May The Future Be Bright
by Killerchainsaw
Summary: Life continues on for Mei and Yuzu as they and their little family grow. This story is a short series of one-shots that are all set months/years apart from each other and because of that there will be a small summary on each and every chapter to tell the reader what has happened and is currently happening with all the characters. A sequel story to 'Whatever The Future May Bring'
1. The Same Feelings That She Once Had

**Author's Notes: **

**I don't own Citrus or any of its characters, no copyright is intended.**

**This story is set after the events of another called 'Whatever The Future May Bring', so please go and read that story before reading this one so that you will be caught up on everything that has happened so far.**

_Italics - Means the person is thinking._

**Summary for one-shot:**

Almost five months has passed since we last checked in with the little family planning to buy a house of their own together and have a second baby, now the three of them have been living in their new house for almost a month, Yuzu is just under five months pregnant with their second child and has a small baby bump growing. Maiya is almost a couple of weeks away from her second birthday and in only a couple of years Mei will take over her Grandfather's place as 'The head of the family business'. And so while their lives are seeming to move forward at quite the fast pace in this one-shot Yuzu comes to really understand the kind of feelings Mei once went through when she was expecting their first child amost two years ago. (Also if you are wondering Matsuri has now graduated from highschool and is currently looking for a job)

**This story contains 'Science babies', don't question it, just enjoy it. ^_^**

**Warning: This contains yuri (girl x girl) pairings, don't like? Don't read simple otherwise enjoy. ;)  
**

**...**

Late morning having already passed by now, however Yuzu being unaware of this at the moment as the blinding light of the sun's rays were being shielded by the dark purple curtains covering the large window in the bedroom, so that the blonde could sleep without something disturbing her. Unfortunately that not entirely seeming to be the case as another distraction was causing the young Mother to stir in her peaceful rest slightly.

A nagging pain starting to bother her as she soon opened her emerald eyes, blinking a couple of times until her version cleared and settled on the dimly-lit room. Groaning slightly and rolling over on the double bed, reaching her hand over to the other side of her bed, only to sigh heavily and frown when finding out that the space beside her was empty, and missing of her beloved wife who would normally be laying there. Slowly moving to sit up as she stretched and let a yawn escape, before wincing at another sharp pain shooting through her lower abdomen, resting a hand on her swollen stomach and rubbing it a little, a small smile forming on her lips.

"Good morning to you too," her voice coming out in a low tone, giving out a small chuckle when feeling the familiar sensation of the growing unborn baby kicking against her hand from inside her, clearly showing that she was also awake right now.

The blonde running a hand through her long hair, feeling like she should maybe stay in bed for a little bit longer since she was still tired at the moment, but soon shook that thought out of her mind as she wanted to see her wife and young daughter more than going back to sleep for a couple more hours. Shrugging her shoulders as she climbed out of the double bed, leaving her bedroom and heading to the bathroom to give her face a quick wash, before making her way into the kitchen and dining area, hearing that that was obviously where Mei and Maiya currently were.

Standing by the skin in the kitchen Mei rested her hands on her hips as she had just finished making her wife's breakfast for her, as she let out a satisfied sigh, before turning back to her one year old daughter sitting in her yellow, wooden high-chair, seeing her happily eating her breakfast and babbling to herself. A small smile forming on the young Mother's lips, before her eyes caught the sight of Yuzu entering the kitchen and dining area, causing Mei to glance to her wife and greet her contently while the blonde came over to plant a light 'Good morning' kiss on the younger girl's forehead.

"How come you didn't get me up when you woke up?"

Yuzu asked as she leaned against the kitchen counter, looking to the freshly made breakfast Mei had made her and licked her lips, glad that her slight morning sickness was no longer causing her to avoid eating, knowing that she was lucky to not have it as bad as Mei had when she was carrying Maiya it seemed.

"Well you were tired so I decided to leave you sleeping for a little longer, besides I only got up because I heard that Maiya was awake and was calling and crying for me to come get her out of her cot," the younger girl explained as she gave a slight glance to their one year old daughter, while little Maiya happily looked to her two Mothers and smiled to them both, baby food and butter from her toast covering her cheeks as it looked like she had gotten more of her breakfast on her face than actually in her mouth at all.

"I wouldn't have minded helping you with her,"

The blonde said not wanting Mei to go out of her way to look after their young daughter by herself, when she was at home and would be more than happy to help out if she could. However Mei just shaking her head in response, brushing off Yuzu's offer as she just smiled to her slightly and walked over to Maiya's high-chair a moment later.

"Its fine Yuzu, it was only for a little while. Plus I think you need more sleep than me at the moment since I can easily remember how tired I was when I was expecting Maiya," the younger girl simply stated as she soon cleaned up their young daughter's messy face, wiping the tray connected to her high-chair, before lifting the smiling one year old out and putting her down on the floor, so that she could run off to play with her toys in the lounge.

Shrugging her shoulders slightly Yuzu looked like she wanted to say something about this subject to Mei, but decided to refrain from going on about it all, instead just taking her breakfast with her and sat down at the dining table, beginning to tuck in happily as she was clearly glad to be satisfying her empty stomach.

While Mei walked back into the kitchen and started to wash the dirty dishes from her own as well as Maiya's breakfast, the cheerful one year old having wandered back into the kitchen and dining area, as she sat of the floor happily playing with one of her many teddy bears that her family and friends had gifted to her, her two Mothers glancing down to her every so often just to be sure she wasn't getting herself into troubled at all.

"By the way what time are you going to see your Granddad today?" Yuzu asked as she hungrily ate her freshly made toast and boiled eggs, knowing that Mei couldn't cook as well as she could, but was more than overjoyed to eat something that her beloved wife had made for her no matter how it may taste, and honestly it really wasn't bad at all.

"Actually...I think I need to talk to you about that," Pausing a little Mei sighed as she turned from the kitchen sink and looked to the blonde, causing Yuzu to raise her eyebrow slightly, Mei's voice seeming to have a bit of a nervous tone to it.

"I know you haven't been getting that much sleep lately and you were only able to get a long weekend off from work, before you have to go back again. So I was thinking in order for you to have no distractions while you relax...I could take Maiya along with me to visit my Grandfather," she explained as Yuzu widened her eyes a little and looked a bit taken aback about the younger girl's suggestion that she had come up with.

"Are you sure? It might be easier for you to leave Maiya-chan here and let me take care of her by myself; after all I wouldn't mind it at all-

"I know, I know Yuzu but...I...I want you to get more rest, it'll be better for both you and the baby if you do, and you know if I did leave you here alone with Maiya she most likely wouldn't let you have a moments rest. In fact she probably much rather have you play with her the whole time that I'll be gone," the younger girl trying to reason with her wife, causing the blonde to give her a bit of a anxious gaze in reply, it being obvious that she didn't want to trouble Mei with having to take young Maiya along with her, however she could see where Mei was coming from at the moment and understood that she was only thinking of her and their unborn child right now rather than herself really.

Thinking to herself for a few moments more Yuzu still looked like she was going to protest and not go along with Mei's offer, despite she knew the younger girl was doing this for her benefit, but before she could refuse the suggestion Mei cut her off and gestured to their one year old daughter, who was still contently entertaining herself on the dining room floor.

"Besides I've already talked to Maiya about it, and she seems more than happy to come with me," she added as she folded her arms across her chest and caused Yuzu to chuckle a little as she glanced down to their young daughter, catching the one year old's attention a moment later when she called to her simply.

"Oh yeah, Maiya-chan do you want to stay here with your Mommy..." Yuzu paused as she pointed to herself so that Maiya would luckily understand her better, as she just gazed up to her blonde Mother, tilting her head to the side ever so slightly as a wondering expression rested on her face, "or...do you want to go and see your Great granddad with your Mama?" the blonde asked pointing to Mei instead and causing Maiya to look to her birth Mother, Yuzu having a bit of a nervous smile at the moment seeming unsure of herself, only to sigh in defeat when she got her answer soon afterwards from their young daughter.

"Maiya-chan go with Mama,"

The smiling one year old simply replied with her usual beaming grin, causing the blonde to frown slightly, but soon just shrugging her shoulders, guessing that she really shouldn't have been surprised by her daughter's response when it came to the choice of staying at home, or getting the chance to go outside her answer seemed easy enough to know.

"Figures, I should have guessed that's what her answer would be," thinking out loud more to herself Yuzu glanced back to Mei, as she just softened her expression and came to sit beside the blonde at the dining table, resting a caring hand over her's and causing Yuzu to look back to her with an unsure gaze still it seemed.

"I'll be fine with her Yuzu, and I'm sure my Grandfather would like to see her again, he hasn't seen her in months after all. You just get some sleep okay?" Mei giving Yuzu a reassuring smile, causing the blonde to bite her bottom lip a little, seeming like she was hesitating still, but soon just figured that she should give in since she knew Mei likely wasn't going to let Yuzu sway her at all this time. Nodding in response and letting a slight smile form on her lips, while the younger girl just sighed out of relief and embraced her pregnant wife, holding her close as she could feel the blonde nuzzling into her neck lovingly.

"We'll be back when you wake up, okay?"

The younger girl added as she caused Yuzu to just nod back to her with a softer smile, before she hugged Mei back tightly and kissed her cheek lightly, knowing that she didn't really need to worry about anything and should just take Mei's advice and focus more on herself for now. After all it was true that she really hadn't be sleeping well for weeks, and it would most likely start taking its toll on her soon enough if she didn't take this chance and try to improve just how much rest she was currently getting.

...

It not being long before Mei and Maiya soon left for Mei's Grandfather's manor, going to talk to him more about Mei taking over his role as 'head of the family business' once he had retired, leaving Yuzu to now head back to bed once she had finished her breakfast. She had been trying to get a couple more hours sleep, since that is exactly the reason why Mei had decided to let her have the house to herself for a little while, but it just seemed like because Yuzu had already woken up earlier that's how she was going to stay as far as her body was concerned at least.

Sighing heavily Yuzu sat up on her and Mei's double bed, having spent the past twenty minutes tossing and trying to get some more rest, but since that clearly wasn't working out for her at all, she decided to leave her bedroom and go to sit down on the sofa in the lounge instead. Picking up the remote control from the coffee table and flipping through a few of the T.V channels for a few minutes, before the blonde just threw the remote to lie on the space beside her, while she sat back against the sofa cushions and glanced up to the ceiling feeling like she really didn't know just what she should do with herself at the moment.

Soon feeling a slight stinging pain beginning to bother her once again as she looked down to her swollen stomach and rested a hand over where her navel was, rubbing slowly and letting a small smile form on her lips, "I imagine you're feeling just as unsettled as I am right now huh?" she thought out loud in a low voice as her stomach cramps mixed with the little kicks she would receive from her unborn baby every so often, causing her to guess her troubles and lack of sleep was most definitely getting noticed by the growing infant inside of her, and seemed to be having quite the affect on them just like it was for the exhausted blonde.

'_I wonder if Harumin's free today...maybe I should call her up...' _she thought to herself as she let another deep sigh leave her lips, before she took her mobile phone out of her pocket and quickly called up her best friend, putting the phone up to her ear and waiting while it rang about three times, hoping that the brunette would answer so that she would have someone to talk to at least.

"Hey Yuzucchi, what's up?"

Upon hearing her best friend's cheerful voice on the other line the blonde let a sigh of relief leave her lips, before just smiling slightly and greeting Harumi happily so that the brunette wouldn't get concerned at all from Yuzu not responding to her right away when she was the one that had called her up.

"Hey Harumin, I'm doing okay...are you busy right now?"

Yuzu asked in a bit of a nervous tone as she hoped she wasn't disturbing Harumi's day at all and clearly wanting some company at the moment, causing the brunette on the other line to raise her eyebrow slightly in response, before she simply replied a moment later.

"No not really, why is something the matter?"

"Oh no, there's nothing to worry about...it's just...Mei has gone to see her Granddad today and she's taken Maiya along with her. It's not a big deal...but they'll likely be gone for a little while and..." Yuzu explained speaking in a bit of a rushed voice as she didn't want to worry Harumi at all, however ended up trailing off nervously, as she knew she probably sounded quite pitiful at the moment calling her up like this just so that she would have someone to talk to, and fill the silence that had fallen on her since Mei had left with their young daughter a little while ago.

"And you want me to come round and keep you company until they come back right?" Harumi seeming to easily tell what the blonde was thinking at the moment, causing Yuzu to widen her eyes a little as she was about to defend herself, however just shaking her head knowing that the brunette was right after all.

"Yeah, can you?" she asked as Harumi could easily hear the hopeful tone in the blonde's voice, causing her to chuckle slightly in response, making it obvious that she knew Yuzu too well by this point to not guess what she was wanting in her time of need right now.

"Sure, I'll be there in fifteen minutes tops," the brunette simply stated with a nod and a smile, before Yuzu just smiled as well, glad that she wouldn't be by herself for much longer now that she knew Harumi would be joining her soon enough.

"Thank you Harumin,"

Replying in a soft spoken tone Yuzu hearing her best friend just telling her that it was 'no problem really', before their call soon ended and the blonde put her mobile phone back into her pocket, leaning back against the sofa cushions while she waited for the brunette to come knocking at her front door and hang out with her for the time being until her wife and daughter would return back home to her.

It looking like Yuzu wouldn't have to wait for long at all as Harumi showed up knocking on the front door fifteen minutes later just like she had said she would, the blonde calling her to 'Come in' as she gazed in the direction of the front door, hearing the door open and close before soon seeing her best friend come walking into the lounge greeting her happily. Smiling to Yuzu as she came to sit down beside her on the sofa, while Yuzu just smiled back to her in return.

"Where's Matsuri?"

The blonde asked looking like she was already much more relaxed than she was earlier when she was sitting by herself a little while ago, as Harumi just leaned back against the sofa cushions and guessed Yuzu was just trying to make conversation at the moment so that they weren't sitting in silence, like she had probably been until the brunette had turned up at the door.

"She's in a job interview at my work, but it's only for part-time and not a full time job like what I have in the sales company," Harumi simply answered as her smile softened when talking about her girlfriend, it being clear that she was proud of Matsuri and maybe a little nervous for her as well.

"Well I hope it all goes well for her, I know she has been looking for a job for quite a while now,"

"Yeah she keeps saying as soon as she gets a job we can start saving up for a house together and finally move out of my sister's place," the brunette chuckled slightly as she thought about how her girlfriend seemed to have everything all thought out when it came to planning for their future together, causing Yuzu to chuckle as well, glad to know that her and Mei weren't the only ones moving forward in their lives and working towards a goal for the near future.

"So how are you by the way? How's pregnancy treating you, anymore morning sickness at all?" changing the subject a bit Harumi propped herself up on her elbow, resting it on top of the sofa cushions, as she gestured to Yuzu's swollen stomach, and caused her to just sigh slightly when thinking about all that she had been going through lately with carrying her and Mei's unborn baby, feeling like her symptoms luckily weren't as troubling as Mei had back when she was pregnant with Maiya.

"No luckily the morning sickness and weird cravings for fizzy drinks and salty foods have mostly disappeared now, and although the cramps and constant kicking can be quite bothersome sometimes, the only symptom that's really giving me trouble at the moment is the fact that my sleeping pattern is really messed up and I'm not sure if it's going to improve anytime soon unfortunately," Yuzu explained as she glanced down to her swollen stomach and rubbed it a little again, still feeling slight cramps mixed with light kicks hitting her lower abdomen every so often, feeling that although they were annoying they were bearable and much less troubling than her exhaustion was at this current moment.

Harumi not feeling like she should say anything, guessing that she couldn't really say anything that would make the blonde feel better, and so just gave Yuzu an understanding expression and rested a caring hand over her's, letting her friend just vent to her while also making sure she knew she was here for her and didn't need to bottle anything up at all. The young Mother just smiling back to the brunette as she tightly held on to her hand and mentally thanked her for being here, before she soon continued on, clearly being glad that she could just get all this off of her chest and knew she wouldn't be judged for it or anything.

"I'm not sure what it is, but I'm only able to sleep for about four or five hours at most and then once I'm awake I can't get back to sleep again at all, now I'm exhausted most days and...that's why Mei left me alone here today; she told me to get some more rest and took Maiya along with her so that I wouldn't be disturbed by her at all. But it honestly doesn't seem like it would've mattered at this point since it's obvious my body just doesn't want me to sleep for some unknown reason," the blonde sighing heavily as she felt defeated, not knowing what to do anymore about how bad her sleeping pattern was getting, knowing all too well just how badly it was affecting both her and the baby, but honestly not having any idea for how she could make sleeping easier for herself.

"Maybe you need to go and see the Doctor about it; I mean you could be causing yourself more stress and less sleep if you keep focusing on it all you know," suggesting with a bit of a concerned tone in her voice Harumi tried to think of way she could maybe help out her best friend, but seemed to be unsure of what she could do really since there wasn't much she would be able to try and help with, guessing that Yuzu had likely tried every option she could think of to make things improve with her sleep already.

Just nodding slightly Yuzu just shrugged her shoulders and turned away from Harumi in response, "I've already been to the Doctor, and she said as long as I try to rest more and take things easy as much as I can than my sleeping should start to get better, but...I'm normally busy with work and helping to take care of Maiya," she stated as she caused Harumi to look back to her with more of a curious expression, catching the blonde's attention and soon had her turning back to her again.

"Then what about today? Were you able to rest at all before you called me up?"

Looking a little hopeful Harumi still was trying to stay positive about this, and if there was any way she could be able to help the blonde at all, then she would definitely try it out. However Yuzu just shook her head in response and caused Harumi to look nervous, seeming a little defeated that even though Yuzu didn't have any disturbances stopping her from resting more, somehow she was still having quite the bit of trouble with this sleep issue of her's.

"I did try to earlier, but no matter what I tried I just couldn't get back off to sleep, and when I tried to just relax I just didn't have the motivation to do anything. And if I'm being honest I would have much rather preferred to have Mei and Maiya-chan here with me, I mean I know we've only been living here for a few weeks but...I think I get how lonely Mei used to feel back when she was pregnant with Maiya, and my Mom and I used to leave her alone whenever we went off to work for the day," seeming like she had gotten all of her troubling feelings and thoughts off her chest Yuzu just looked back to Harumi, kind of hoping she would have something encouraging to say to her in order to make her feel better about her current situation.

However the brunette just stayed silent as she was thinking to herself for a little while, before she just shrugged her shoulders and soon held both of her arms out towards the blonde, causing her to lean and settle into her best friend's comforting embrace and nuzzle into her slightly. Yuzu hearing a slight sigh escape Harumi's lips, it being kind of clear that she still was unsure of just what she should say at this point, not knowing what the right thing to say would be and so just staying quiet, and offering her shoulder for Yuzu to cry on instead.

The two close friends just staying in their embrace for a few minutes, before Harumi soon broke the silence that had fallen on them both, "Try talking to Mei about all this, I'm sure she will know what it's like to feel lonely in an empty house, and maybe she might have some ideas on how to solve your non-sleeping problem as well," she suggested with an encouraging smile to the blonde, causing her to nod slowly in reply as she looked back to the brunette and smiled to her in return.

"I hope so at least,"

The blonde thought out loud in a whispered tone, causing Harumi to still look concerned for her, also hopping that talking with her wife would just maybe help Yuzu out with the troubles that she was having at the moment. Yuzu knowing that it would be best to take her friend's advice and talk with Mei about her issues as soon as she returned home later on along with Maiya, so that maybe, just maybe things would improve with her sleeping and she wouldn't be so exhausted all the time, or at least give her more ideas about where to go from here.

...

Harumi staying with Yuzu, talking with her and keeping her company just like she had said she would until the blonde got a text from Mei, telling her that her and Maiya were on their way home and would be back with her soon enough. Thanking the brunette for staying with her and lending her an ear when she needed it, feeling so grateful for her as she watched her close friend leave and waved 'Goodbye' to her, before she walked back into the dining and kitchen area as she sat down at the dining table, waiting eagerly for her wife and daughter to arrive home again.

Finding that she wouldn't have to wait for very long at all as within only ten minutes after Harumi had left, Yuzu heard the front door swing open, followed by the cheerful voice of her young daughter calling out to her, causing her to get up from her chair and go to greet Mei and Maiya back home. Smiling when she saw the two standing in the entrance hallway, putting their shoes away before little Maiya happily beamed up to her blonde Mother and came running over to her quickly.

"Mommy! Maiya-chan is home!" the smiling one year old stated, as Yuzu just chuckled slightly and nodded back to her daughter, picking her up and cuddling her close, causing Maiya to happily nuzzle into her blonde Mother's neck, hugging her back tightly before Yuzu looked to Mei instead and softened her smile.

"Welcome home," the blonde spoke in a low tone as she just caused Mei to form her lips into a small smile, hugging Yuzu just as tightly as Maiya had done as the little family embraced one another for a few moments, before they all parted and walked into the lounge together.

"How is your Granddad Mei, did everything go okay with him?"

Yuzu asked as she put Maiya down on the floor so that she could entertain herself by playing with her toys, while her two Mothers sat together on the sofa and talked to each other, Mei just nodding in response as it was obvious she was happy to be back at home along with Maiya and Yuzu, clearly having missed Yuzu just like the blonde had her.

"He's doing good, and it went really well, seems like things are definitely starting to come together with me taking over the family business once my Grandfather retires in a couple of years. Plus I could tell he was happy to see Maiya again even if he didn't say it, and says he sends his best wishes for you and our second child," the younger girl explained with a content expression as she caused Yuzu to just smile in return, glad to hear that all had gone well with Mei's Grandfather and things were starting to fall into place for her future.

"That was really nice of him,"

"Yeah, so how were you while we were gone, did you get any more sleep at all?" Mei questioned, seeming to be quite eager to know if Yuzu had been able to get any rest while she had nothing to disturb her at all, however the blonde going quite as she looked nervous and turned away from the younger girl, causing Mei to gaze to her with a bit of a concerned expression.

Hesitating to answer at first Yuzu bit her bottom lip as she remembered what Harumi had told her, just shaking her head in reply and causing Mei to sigh in disappointment, looking like she was thinking to herself since this tacit of removing all distractions hadn't really helped with the blonde's sleeping troubles unfortunately. However before Mei could say anything in response Yuzu cut her off and spoke up instead, knowing that she needed to take Harumi's advice and tell the younger girl about what she had been feeling while she was gone, so that hopefully her and Mei could maybe think of another way to help with improving Yuzu's bad sleeping patterns.

"But then I wasn't really settled at all being here all by myself, I mean...I guess I didn't really get just how lonely an empty house can be until I experienced it for myself," she stated, smiling to Mei slightly and causing her to widen her eyes a little, realizing that Yuzu must have been feeling as lonely as she once had been while she was all alone in their home, seeing that she shouldn't have left the blonde when she needed her here, but then also felt kind of glad that Yuzu now knew exactly how she had felt whenever she had left for work and Mei was still pregnant with Maiya.

"It's quite the unexpected feeling...isn't it?" Mei asking after a short pause, softening her expression and caused Yuzu to turn back to her with a bit of a taken aback look, but soon just forming a smile on her lips, as she nodded in reply to the younger girl with seeing the understanding gaze that Mei had in her lavender eyes right now.

"Yeah, it was like I didn't know what to do with myself and just wanted you and Maiya back here with me. I eventually caved and called Harumi up to come and keep me company, honestly Mei...I don't know how you kept allowing yourself to be that lonely when I could have been there for you more," the blonde feeling disappointed in herself that she hadn't really understood just how lonely Mei had been without her until now, ashamed that it had taken her this long to realise it, but Mei simply just shaking her head in response, as she shrugged her shoulders and smiled back to Yuzu.

"It's a feeling that you learn to live with I guess, but then I knew you couldn't always be there for me and I knew I would never be alone for long..." pausing slightly Mei rested a caring hand on Yuzu's swollen stomach, causing the blonde to look back to her with a curious gaze, before the younger girl continued on a moment later, "and neither will you, Yuzu," she stated in a low tone as Yuzu just widened her emerald eyes, before smiling brightly and hugging Mei tightly, feeling her beloved wife nuzzling into her embrace and hugging her back soon enough.

The couple embracing each other in silence for a little while, holding the other close before they soon both sighed slightly and Mei spoke up, causing the blonde to glance back to her now, "But for now I think we should focus more on solving these issues you're having with your sleep, so I intend to be staying with you as much as I can until it is all sorted out. Maybe we should talk to your Mother about it all and see if she can help us," the younger girl suggested as she gave Yuzu more of an encouraging expression, causing her to just soften her smile and nod in reply, feeling relieved that she would have Mei with her to help her work through her sleeping problems at least, and likely wouldn't have to be without out her all that much just yet.

"That sounds like a good idea,"

Yuzu simply replied as she caused Mei to just smile back to her, before she kissed the younger girl on her forehead lightly, mentally thanking her while Mei just brought the blonde into another hug and let her rest against her chest, finally feeling that she was relaxed now. Yuzu nuzzled into her wife lovingly before they both looked back to their young daughter, who was still happily playing by herself while her usual beaming smiling was still resting on her lips, babbling to her teddy bears and other toys, as her two Mothers just sat wrapped in each other's arms and watched their precious daughter from the sofa together.

**...**

**Hope you all enjoyed this first one-shot in this sequel series and the next one-shot should be up in about two weeks from now just you know. **

**Thank you all for reading by the way. ^_^ **

**Killerchainsaw ;) **


	2. The Troubles That Jealousy Brings

**Author's Notes: **

**I don't own Citrus or any of its characters, no copyright is intended.**

**This story is set after the events of another called 'Whatever The Future May Bring', so please go and read that story before reading this one so that you will be caught up on everything that has happened so far.**

_Italics - Means the person is thinking._

**Summary for one-shot:**

Set about five to six months after the previous one-shot, Yuzu and Mei's second child has been born and is now two weeks old, having only come home from the hospital a little over a week ago and already it seems that the newborn is taking up a lot of Yuzu and Mei's time, meaning that older sister Maiya (who is now almost two and a half years old) is having less and less time with her two Mothers, causing the young toddler to feel a bit jealous over her new baby sibling. Also Harumi and Matsuri have a little surprise to share with their two close friends.

**This story contains 'Science babies', don't question it, just enjoy it. ^_^**

**Warning: This contains yuri (girl x girl) pairings, don't like? Don't read simple otherwise enjoy. ;)  
**

**...**

"Mommy, Mommy look, look!"

Yuzu hearing her two year old daughter calling out to her in her usual cheerful voice, causing the blonde Mother to look back down to her, as the two sat on the floor of the lounge together, playing with young Maiya's many teddy bears and other stuffed animals while late afternoon was just starting to settle in. Maiya holding up one of her teddy bears to Yuzu, as it didn't take long for her 'Mommy' to realise just what her daughter was trying to show her at the moment.

"I see, Saya-chan is already for the day huh?"

She commented with a smile, looking to the teddy bear being held in front of her face right now that was currently dressed in green, striped shorts, a plain white t-shirt and a rather large, red baseball cap, seeming like they were ready for a sunny day out at the beach or something. Yuzu soon chuckling slightly as Maiya just nodded back to her blonde Mother, adjusting the cap on her bear's head, while it still looked like it was obviously too big for the teddy, however that not seeming to bother the two year old in the slightest as she just held up her bear with out-stretched arms and smiled happily in satisfaction.

While her young daughter played joyfully Yuzu sat beside her, watching her with a content smile as the two year old would talk to all her teddies and act like they were actually answering her in reply, a slight, pleasant sigh escaping the blonde Mother's lips as she hadn't really realized it until now, but she really had been missing these precious little moments with Maiya lately since she had been kept from doing things like this quite a bit recently.

The blonde was glad she could take this time out to spend at least maybe an hour or so with her first child, however she knew the time they were spending as just the two of them would soon be short lived, as after only about forty minutes had passed the 'reason' for Yuzu not getting to spend as much time with Maiya anymore came into the lounge along with Mei holding on to them.

"Yuzu, I think someone's feeling a little hungry,"

The dark haired Mother stated as she gestured to the small newborn who was currently being cradled in her arms, while the fair haired little one whimpered and tightly gripped on to Mei's shirt, causing Yuzu to look to their younger daughter and see her quivering bottom lip directed at her, shrugging her shoulders with a smile and standing up from the floor so that she could take their two week old newborn daughter off of her wife for a bit.

"Oh yeah, how can you tell? Baby Yui here hardly makes a peep it's difficult to know whether she's happy or sad half the time," she asked, it not really looking like she was expecting a response at all as she just lifted the whimpering newborn into her arms and stroked her little cheeks with the back of her first two fingers, going over to sit on the sofa in the lounge now so that she could feed their younger daughter, it had been a while since she was last fed after all.

"Well she keeps whimpering and looking like she's on the verge of tears, so I guessed she's hungry since I've already tried everything else and none of it seemed to improve her mood at all," Mei simply explained even though she knew Yuzu could have figured out her reply easy enough without being told, Maiya looking over to her two Mothers as they both came to sit with her baby sister on the sofa, leaving her to sit by herself, causing the young two year old to quickly come over to join them as well.

"She sure is quite the puzzle sometimes...maybe she gets it from her 'Mama',"

Yuzu smirked slightly as she nudged Mei with her elbow and caused the younger girl to just raise her eyebrow and fold her arms across her chest, while the blonde soon pulled up her shirt and bra, moving baby Yui so that she could suckle on her blonde Mother's nipple and get the milk that she had been eagerly awaiting.

"You know you're her 'Mama' too Yuzu,"

"Yeah, but it's obvious she's more like you than me Mei. After all apart from the colour of her hair she looks just like you," the blonde pointed out as she caused Mei to glance to their newborn's lavender eyes that matched hers as did most of her other features, knowing that Yuzu was right but not wanting to admit that to her grinning wife, just rolling her eyes and turning away from her instead in return, causing Yuzu to just smile softly back to the younger girl while little baby Yui happily filled her empty tummy.

Thinking of saying something to change the subject Yuzu was going to catch Mei's attention again, however was cut off before she could even say anything at all, as the two young Mothers heard their elder daughter calling to them, noticing that her voice didn't have the usual cheerful tone it would normally have, causing both of the two to look back down to young Maiya now.

"Mommy play with Maiya-chan," the young toddler pouted as she stood in front of the sofa, gripping on to Yuzu's trouser leg and tugging on it lightly, clearly wanting the blonde to pay more attention to her rather than to the little newborn that lay nursing in her arms at the moment.

Widening her emerald eyes Yuzu frowned slightly as she glanced down to her older daughter, sighing a little and resting a hand on top of Maiya's head, stroking her short black hair gently, "I'm sorry Maiya-chan, I know I was meant to be playing with you, but I have to feed your baby sister. Maybe...your Mama could play with you in the meantime?" she suggested with a bit of a pleading smile to Mei, as she easily caught on to the message that Yuzu was hinting to her and just nodded back to the blonde.

Moving to stand up Mei was ready to go and sit with their elder daughter and play with her while Yuzu fed their little newborn, however young Maiya not looking like she agreed with that idea unfortunately as she just quickly shook her head and bawled her fists tightly, clearly getting upset in response while tears started to well up in her bright, emerald eyes.

"No! Maiya-chan wanna play with Mommy!" Maiya raised her voice, stamping her little feet on the carpeted floor, before she just turned away from both of her Mothers, slight sobbing could be heard from the young toddler as she ran off to her bedroom, hearing the door slam shut behind her and the two of them sighing in unison afterwards.

"Guess it's not the same as getting to play with you, since you haven't really had much time alone together since Yui was born," Mei thought out loud as she caused Yuzu to just nod back to her, both of them knowing it was better to leave Maiya to calm herself down at times like these, and not go after her as that could easily result in only making the toddler even more upset, hoping that she would come out of her room later when she was ready to.

"I guess she really is missing spending time with me...much more than I thought she would," Yuzu agreed as a bit of a sad smile formed on her lips, trying to think how she could maybe cheer up young Maiya so that she wouldn't feel like baby Yui was taking up all her attention even though that was kind of what had been happening most of the time lately.

Both of the two Mothers trying to think for a few moments about how they could possibly make more time for Yuzu to be with their elder daughter, while also wondering how she could do that and help to take care of their newborn younger daughter at the same time, after all it wouldn't be fair to have Mei take care of baby Yui by herself and Yuzu didn't want to be a lesser part in either one of her daughter's lives, but didn't really have any idea of how she could juggle the needs of both of her and Mei's young girls at the same time.

However Mei let out another deep sigh, and soon catching the blonde's attention as she was brought out of her thoughts and turned back to her wife a moment later, "I mean it's no surprise that she's feeling jealous since you are spending a lot less time with her and more time with Yui, and even though she normally loves spending time with me, I can clearly see she wants both of us to be playing with her at lot of the time...and without Yui being there to distract us preferably," she explained causing Yuzu to just nod in response, seeing that her and Mei were pretty much having the same thoughts about all this right now it seemed.

"Maybe I should try talking to her...once she's calmed down that is,"

The blonde smiled nervously as she knew Maiya might not want to listen to her since she could be very stubborn sometimes, but it was worth a shot if it meant that the young toddler could maybe understand just why Yuzu couldn't always be focused on her, and had to take care of her baby sister a lot of the time instead. Mei just nodding to Yuzu as she thought that maybe talking to Maiya about it all could help to make the situation better, but then there was no guarantee that it would work out that way, or that young Maiya would even be able to understand why both of her Mothers couldn't be with her when she wanted them to be and instead had to be with her little sister for most of the day.

But before Yuzu could finish off feeding baby Yui and go to talk with young Maiya, the two both heard a rather loud knocking at their front door, causing for them to take their minds off of their thoughts at the moment, and glance to each other before Mei stood up from the sofa and went to go and answer the door. While Yuzu soon moved baby Yui to be sitting on her lap holding her under her tiny chin and patting her back softly, after having finished feeding the newborn and fixing her clothing, waiting for her wife to come back and wondering who had come knocking on their door.

Opening the front door and greeting their visitor Mei wasn't really surprised to see Harumi and Matsuri standing on the doorstep, having been expecting the young couple to come round for a visit for a few days now, since they had brought baby Yui home from the hospital more than a week ago. The other two greeting Mei back happily with cheerful smiles as they were invited inside by the dark haired girl, and soon led into the lounge where Yuzu still currently sat along with little Yui on the sofa.

"Hey I didn't know you two were coming round today," Yuzu said as she was more surprised than Mei had been to see their two close friends come to visit them like this even though she figured they were most likely bound to show up soon enough since they hadn't really caught up with the other couple in a while.

"Well we didn't really plan to, but then...something unexpected happened the other day and we thought we might as well drop by and tell you two about it,"

Matsuri stated as she and Harumi came to sit beside Yuzu on the sofa, while Mei sat on the arm chair opposite them all, leaning forward as Matsuri glanced to Harumi with a bit of a smirk, causing both Yuzu and Mei to look to the other couple with curious expressions, obviously wondering just what the younger girl had meant by 'something unexpected'.

"What was it?" The blonde asked with a slightly raised eyebrow, she and Mei taking notice to the fact that the other two were definitely acting a little weird at the moment, as it almost seemed like Harumi and Matsuri were about to tell the two young Mothers some sort of secret or something along those lines at least.

The other couple smiling to each other for a moment, causing Mei and Yuzu to look even more confused as to what was going on right now, however that soon changing and things starting to make sense when Harumi lightly nudged Matsuri with her elbow, and gestured for her to stop stalling and just tell the other two already.

The younger girl just looking a little nervous as instead of saying anything at all she just reached out her left hand for both Mei and Yuzu to see, moving her ring finger about a bit so as to make it more obvious as to what she wanted them to look at, and in doing so resulted in the blonde gasping in surprise, her and Mei seeming at a loss for words at first before Yuzu lit up in delight over seeing a shinning ring on Matsuri's finger.

"Well it was nothing big really," the younger girl joked in a sarcastic tone, shrugging her shoulders as she and Harumi chuckled slightly at how their two close friends had reacted to seeing the ring that Harumi had given to Matsuri a couple of days ago.

"You two got engaged?! When did this happen, and how? How come you didn't tell us sooner? Have you set a date yet? Oh I'm so excited, have you two thought about-

"Yuzu calm down, they can't answer that many questions all at once,"

Mei cut her rambling wife off as it seemed like the blonde was clearly filled with joy over this, wanting to hear all about it but going quiet once Mei scolded her for asking too many questionings, causing the blonde to just smile nervously and instead just wait to hear how the other two would explain everything, while a big, bright smile was still resting on her lips.

"How did this happen exactly?" the dark haired girl asked as she still seemed taken aback by this sudden development, but feeling that she really was happy for their two friends, looking to be a lot more composed than Yuzu was about the whole situation though.

"Well as you know we've been looking for a house together for a while, and I think we've made a decision to buy the one that is only a couple of blocks away from yours. But anyway while we were there having another look around and talking with the estate agent about everything Harumi asked me to come out to the garden with her..." Matsuri started to explain how her and Harumi had gotten engaged, pausing slightly as she gave a bit of a nervous smile to her fiancée, gesturing for the brunette to take it from there, while the other two just stayed silent and eagerly awaited to hear the rest of the story.

"And I had been planning just how I would purpose for weeks but...when I saw her standing in the sun as we were working towards our future together I realized in that moment there is no one else that I'd ever want go through all of it with as much as I want to go through everything with her right by my side. So I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me, luckily enough she said yes and we picked out the ring together the next day," the brunette finished as she smiled softly to her fiancée, her gaze being full of love while causing Matsuri to glance away from the elder girl and blush slightly, before she just smiled and rolled her eyes a moment later as she looked back to Harumi.

"What did you think I might say 'no' to you after I've been with you for this long and haven't left you already?" the younger girl raised her eyebrow and folded her arms, smirking slightly to her fiancée and causing her to just chuckle in response and shrug her shoulders, while both Mei and Yuzu smiled as it was obvious they were more than happy for their two close friends, knowing all they had been through since they started dating and were so glad to see them planning for their future together happily.

"Harumin how come you didn't tell me that you were going to propose?" Yuzu asked as she rested a hand on her hip, using the other one to cuddle baby Yui close to her chest, while the little newborn yawned and looked like she was starting to drift off to sleep as she lay in her birth Mother's caring arms.

"Well...I wanted it to be more of a surprise I guess, plus you two have had a lot going on since baby Yui came along and all. But it was also kind of a 'spur of the moment' thing, I hadn't really planned on things going that way but I know now that if I could do it over somehow...I definitely wouldn't want to do it any differently," Harumi stated as she rested a hand over Matsuri's, smiling to the younger girl when she felt her squeeze her hand tightly and lean to be resting her head on her fiancée's shoulder, nuzzling her lovingly before Yuzu handed baby Yui over to Mei for now and brought the engaged couple into a tight embrace.

"I'm so happy for you two!"

She beamed brightly to the two, clearly feeling overjoyed at the moment, while Mei just left baby Yui to be cradled in her arms, as she began to fall into a peaceful sleep in her dark haired Mother's arms. Harumi and Matsuri just chuckling in response to Yuzu hugging them so tightly, only letting them both go when the three of them heard Mei speak up and break the short silence that had fallen on them all.

"I'd say that it's about time really, I mean I don't know about the others, but I know Yuzu and I have been wondering when you two were going to stop stalling and finally tie the knot already," the dark haired girl smiled to the other couple, causing them to just chuckle and smile back to her in return, before Matsuri pulled out of Yuzu's tight hug and changed the subject now.

"So anyway how have things been going for you both? We haven't really talked since little baby Yui was born, and I bet it's been tough adjusting from one kid to two all of a sudden," the younger girl causing Mei and Yuzu to glance to each other and both sigh while they nodded in reply to Matsuri, Mei looking down to the sleeping newborn in her arms as she stroked her short, fair hair and smiled to her sleeping face, feeling a warm sensation spread throughout her chest when baby Yui nuzzled into her happily in her sleep.

"It has been a lot of work I will admit, after all compared to Maiya, Yui is actually a very quiet baby, she hardly ever cries all that much really and although she is sleeping okay, everything else is pretty much more of a guessing game then it was for us when Maiya was her age," the blonde explained as she glanced back over to Mei and their newborn daughter, as she had noticed how generally happy Mei always looks whenever she's holding little baby Yui in her arms, before Harumi soon brought Yuzu's attention back on to her and Matsuri again.

"Well every child is different after all, and speaking of where is that Maiya-chan anyway?"

Harumi looking around as she wondered why the cheerful toddler hadn't come running to them from wherever she was at the moment, knowing that she would normally love to see them both, however this subject causing both Yuzu and Mei to glance back to each other with shared worried expressions on their faces, as it seemed like they didn't know how exactly they should answer for a few moments before Yuzu decided they might as well tell the other two just what had been going on with their elder daughter as of lately.

"She's in her bedroom at the moment...and she's not exactly her usual cheerful self unfortunately,"

Yuzu spoke in a low tone as she turned away from the other couple, causing both Harumi and Matsuri to look confused and concerned in response, as it seemed like the atmosphere had shifted somewhat while the blonde looked to Mei with a bit of a nervous expression. While Mei saw that the elder girl was obviously gesturing for some help, since she was having a little trouble with working out just how to explain what was going on with Maiya to the other two.

Mei just nodding to her wife, giving her an understanding look before she picked up where the blonde had left off, causing the other two to look to her instead now, "It's nothing to get worried over really, Maiya...I think she is just feeling a little jealous since Yui was born and both Yuzu and I have been spending less and less time with her," she explained as she caused Harumi and Matsuri to now understand just what was going on for the two young Mothers, seeing the troubles they were having with their older daughter while also trying to care for their newborn at the same time. The brunette just nodding in reply as her and her fiancée no longer looked too concerned, and were instead just wondering just what Mei and Yuzu could do to make things better for them and for young Maiya.

"That's understandable, after all this is the first time she's had to share you two with someone else, and not have your undivided attention be completely on her anymore, like it was not too long ago when Yuzu was still carrying baby Yui," talking more to herself than to the others Harumi thought out loud, glancing to her fiancée as they both tried to think of ways they could maybe help their two close friends here, after all it was pretty obvious that they were struggling quite a bit with how to resolve the troubles they were having with their elder daughter.

"I just wish I knew some way to explain it all to her, in a way that she could understand, but since she's still so young and all...Mei and I are both kinda stumped on what exactly we should tell her," sighing slightly Yuzu propped herself up on her elbows, resting her chin on the palms of her hands, as it was obvious she still wanted to try and talk with young Maiya about everything, but she just had no idea how she would do that and actually have the toddler understand her enough to not feel like she was being left out as much anymore.

The other three glancing to one another as they also tried to think of some way to make things better for the little family of four, however Harumi, Matsuri and Yuzu all soon getting distracted from their thoughts for a few moments, when Mei just shrugged her shoulders as she stood up from the armchair and caught the attention of her wife and friends, as they all looked back to her in response.

"Well I'm going to put this little one to bed, while I'm gone maybe you all can talk this out and hopefully find some kind of solution to it all," the dark haired girl suggested as she gave a softened smile to the anxious look that Yuzu glanced to her with, causing the blonde to just nod in reply before she turned to the other couple while they both just had curious expressions on their faces at the moment, waiting to hear Yuzu's response to what Mei had said.

"I guess we could, after all I would also like to talk more about the details of your engagement,"

Yuzu smiling slightly as she caused Harumi and Matsuri to just nod back to her, clearly being happy to help in any way that they could, as well as not minding answering any questions that Yuzu had about their engagement. The blonde just giving a hopeful look to her beloved wife, before she just watched her leave the lounge and head for the hallway, ready to put baby Yui into her room for a nap while the little newborn was still sleeping soundly in her dark haired Mother's arms.

...

Mei now standing over the light green cradle that she had just laid baby Yui into, brushing the newborn's fair hair lightly and causing her to stir in her peaceful sleep a little, but that not being enough to wake her up it seemed as she just continued to rest with a content expression. A soft smile forming on the young Mother's lips as she rested both of her arms on the side of the cradle, watching as her younger daughter slept soundly, knowing that Yuzu was right when saying that baby Yui took after her more in looks especially and seeing it more at this moment, although she would never likely admit that to the blonde of course.

"She sure is different from her older sister at least,"

She thought out loud, as a slight pleasant sigh escaped her, wondering if the other three had had any luck with coming up with any ideas at all between them. However before she could even consider going back to join them again, the slight creak of the door to the nursery caught her attention and caused her turn away from the sleeping newborn.

"Mama, Mama! Look, look!" young Maiya called to her 'Mama' as she had come rushing into her baby sister's nursery, smiling up to Mei brightly, it seeming like her sour mood from earlier seeming to have gone completely now.

Leaning down to Maiya Mei's eyes went wide as she looked to her older daughter, and almost instantly noticed the light blonde untidy streaks that were coating the ends of her short jet black hair, looking like it had been put on very messily, causing Mei to take hold of both of Maiya's hands and easily seeing the blonde hair dye that was smeared across them at the moment, "Maiya...how did you get into Yuzu's hair dye?" she asked as she ran a hand through her daughter's dark hair, seeing that the dye was still wet and hadn't started drying just yet, meaning that it could luckily be washed out in only a short amount of time.

"Maiya-chan look like Mommy,"

The young toddler simply stated in reply, causing Mei to sigh a little and wonder how long it would take her to wash out the dye, and really hoping Maiya hadn't put her fingers near her mouth at all, or ingested the blonde hair dye some other way. However Maiya looking absolutely fine as she just continued to beam up to her birth Mother, clearly seeming proud of herself for trying to make herself look even more like Yuzu than she already did.

"Yes, you do look like your Mommy...but Maiya-

"Mommy play with Maiya-chan now?"

Cutting off Mei and tilting her head to the side, Maiya causing her birth Mother to widen her eyes slightly, seeming to understand why the toddler had tried to dye her hair blonde, hoping that she would get to play with her 'Mommy' as a result of doing so. The dark haired Mother just smiling slightly as she looked like she was thinking for a moment, before she picked up her two year old daughter from the floor and came to stand over baby Yui's cradle again.

Maiya just looking to her birth Mother curiously, before Mei gestured to the toddler's baby sister and caused her to look to Yui instead, "Maiya look at your baby sister. She's pretty small right?" Mei asked as Maiya just glanced to her before returning her gaze back to baby Yui instead.

"Baby Yui, small," she simply repeated, it being obvious that she hadn't really understand much of what her birth Mother had said, however Mei continuing on a moment later.

"Yes that's right, she's small and can't feed or take care of herself at all just yet, so Mommy and Mama have to feed and take care of her, just like we both did when you were a baby," trying to explain at best as she could to the young toddler, Mei hoped she would understand even if it was just a little, but judging by Maiya's still very clearly curious expression, she was still confused as to what exactly her birth Mother was trying to say to her right now.

But Mei carrying on nonetheless, "Listen Maiya, I know you most likely won't understand this much at all, but although Yui is going to take up a lot of our time, that doesn't mean that Yuzu and I are going to stop spending time with you, we'll both try to make more time for you, and whatever happens we'll always be here for you when you need us. Plus you know you are baby Yui's big sister, so if you want you could help Mommy and Mama with taking care of her," she finished as she smiled to her elder daughter and stroked her short hair, as she still just looked back to her with a wondering gaze, but Mei wasn't really expecting for the young toddler to understand anything of what she had said and figured she wouldn't respond to her, before being pleasantly surprised to hear Maiya speak up soon afterwards she had finished explaining everything to her.

"Maiya-chan help...take care of baby Yui?"

The toddler questioned causing Mei to look slightly taken aback, before just nodding to her elder daughter with a smile, knowing that although Maiya likely had little to no idea what she was going on about, she did seem to understand what her Mother had meant by 'helping' to take care of her baby sister, to a certain degree at least.

"That's right; would you like to help your Mommy and Mama to take care of baby Yui?"

"Help take care of baby Yui!"

Maiya just repeated but in a much more excited tone than earlier, seeming to be back to her cheerful self once again as she looked back down to her sleeping baby sister and smiled brightly to her birth Mother, causing Mei to just soften her smile and rest her hand on top of the toddler's head.

"I bet you'll be a big help to us,"

"Big help!"

Cheering happily as she punched the air with both fists, Maiya clearly being overjoyed by all this, as Mei just chuckled slightly before embracing her two year old daughter and kissing her forehead lightly, while Maiya just nuzzled into her birth Mother's chest and enjoyed feeling her caring hand patting her back softly in return. Only staying in baby Yui's nursery for a few minutes more as Mei soon put Maiya down and followed after her when she went running off back into the lounge, calling 'Mommy, Mommy' as she went.

"What is it Maiya?" Yuzu asked as she heard her two year old daughter come running into the lounge, calling out to her happily, seeming surprised to see her back to her cheerful self, but then even more taken aback when she noticed the toddler's hair and quickly took hold of Maiya's shoulders.

"Your hair...what did you do Maiya-chan?" she sighed slightly as she looked to the light blonde streaks in Maiya's jet black hair and combed her fingers through them, feeling glad when finding that the dye was still damp and hopefully wouldn't be too hard to wash out.

Harumi and Matsuri looking equally surprised, looking for some kind of explanation when Mei came walking into the lounge following after Maiya, "She may have got into your hair dye, I think she wanted to look more like you or Yui, maybe thinking you would change your mind and play with her if she did," the dark haired girl stated as she shrugged her shoulders and caused Yuzu to widen her eyes a little as she looked back down to Maiya, and softened her expression when the toddler smiled her classic beaming grim to her happily.

"Maiya-chan help take care of baby Yui!" she cheered excitedly causing her blonde Mother to look confused, looking back to Mei and clearly wanting her to go into more detail about just what had happened with her and Maiya for their daughter to be saying something like she just did to her all of a sudden like this.

"Well I tried explaining to her why we couldn't always focus on her completely, and just like we thought she really didn't seem to understand it at all. But when I said that she could 'help out with taking care of baby Yui,' she seemed to perk right up, and now she won't stop repeating it. So...I think she really seems to like the idea of all of us helping to take care of Yui together, as a family," Mei explained as she gave a soft smile to her wife, causing her to at first seem unsure of what to say in response, looking back to Maiya as she could now see that maybe in her own little way the young toddler had understood some of what Mei had tried telling her, or she was at least wanting to help out with taking care of her baby sister rather than just being jealous of her all the time, because of the more attention she got from their two Mothers.

"Is that true Maiya-chan, do you really want to help to take care of baby Yui?" the blonde still not sure how to react to this as she clearly didn't expect this at all, but soon recovered from her surprise when Maiya replied to her and jumped into her arms a moment later.

"Maiya-chan help take care of Baby Yui!"

She just repeated yet again as she nuzzled into her blonde Mother, clearly being set on this 'task' she had given herself and caused Yuzu to just slowly form her lips into a smile, nodding to her cheerful daughter, while the other three just smiled to the blonde hugging Maiya back tightly and kissing the toddler on top of her head.

"Okay, you can help us take care of baby Yui,"

She replied as she gazed down to her daughter happily and caused Maiya to just cheer in return, while Mei came over to sit beside Yuzu on the sofa, Harumi and Matsuri having moved to the armchair now, as the blonde looked to her wife and smiled to her when she felt her rest a caring hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Mei...really...thank you, I didn't have a clue how on earth I was going to explain everything to her and somehow try to make her happy again," giving Mei a grateful smile, Yuzu caused the dark haired girl to just shrug her shoulders and smile back to the blonde simply.

"I was kind of just making it up as I went along and I think I just got lucky this time really, you would have probably said something similar," Mei chuckled a little as it was clear that she was just as surprised as Yuzu had been when seeing Maiya's reaction, not thinking she had said much different from what the blonde might have ended up saying if she was the one to talk to their two year old daughter about all this like she had planned on doing.

"Still, thank you," Yuzu just shaking her head and kissing Mei's forehead lightly, as she really felt she was at a loss with this problem and now Mei had just solved it for her, showing her gratitude as she brought Mei into a tight hug and nuzzled into her lovingly.

"Hey don't be so sure of that Mei, after all the three of us were all a bit stumped about it while you were putting baby Yui down for her nap," Harumi pointed out as Matsuri just nodded in agreement, causing Mei to look to the engaged couple instead, just nodding to them in response knowing that really Maiya was the real reason for why this had all worked out so well, and likely didn't have much to do with anything she had said to the young toddler.

"I would've been the same had it not been for Maiya coming into Yui's room in the first place," just shrugging her shoulders again Mei glanced to her two year old daughter, as she was still snuggling close to Yuzu, and just smiled when she saw Maiya just grin back to her joyfully.

"Mommy, Mama...love Maiya-chan?" the toddler questioned, causing her two Mothers to just nod to her in response as they both hugged her tightly, making her giggle happily in return.

"Of course we love you Maiya-chan, and baby Yui too," the blonde simply replied as she kissed her two year old daughter on her cheek, causing her to giggle once again, while Mei just patted Maiya's back with one hand and stroked her short hair with the other.

"You two are our precious little treasures after all,"

She whispered as Maiya just sat in her Mothers' loving embrace beaming with delight, while the three of them stayed hugging like that for a little while longer, before Mei and Yuzu soon let their two year old daughter get down from the sofa and go over to greet Harumi and Matsuri since she hadn't had the chance to just yet. The cheerful toddler's Mothers looking on as they felt confident that they wouldn't have to worry about her being jealous over her baby sister anymore, just as long as they made sure to include her as much as they could in the things that they did with baby Yui, so that both of their beautiful daughters would feel loved and cared for just like they always should do.

**...**

**Hope you all enjoyed the second one-shot in this sequel series and the next one-shot should be up in about a week from now just you know. **

**Thank you all for reading by the way. ^_^ **

**Killerchainsaw ;) **


	3. Wanting To See Her Little Smile More

**Author's Notes: **

**I don't own Citrus or any of its characters, no copyright is intended.**

**This story is set after the events of another called 'Whatever The Future May Bring', so please go and read that story before reading this one so that you will be caught up on everything that has happened so far.**

_Italics - Means the person is thinking._

**Summary for one-shot:**

Set two years after the previous one-shot Maiya is four years old, Yui is one (since she hasn't had her second birthday just yet), Harumi and Matsuri are now married and have a home to call theirs, as well as Matsuri just recently having given birth to a cute little 'bundle of joy' of their own to make their family feel complete. With each passing day young Maiya is noticing how her little sister hardly ever smiles at anyone other then their 'Mama' (Mei), and wishes she could see her smile more often, this wish becoming more apparent to everyone else when the toddler's 'Grandma' (Yuzu's Mother) and Harumi are due to drop by for a visit.

**This story contains 'Science babies', don't question it, just enjoy it. ^_^**

**Warning: This contains yuri (girl x girl) pairings, don't like? Don't read simple otherwise enjoy. ;)  
**

**...**

Mei letting out a gentle sigh as she stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter while at the moment she had stopped drying the clean dishes from yesterday, and instead was now looking to her wife and eldest daughter, watching the two as they cheerfully talked to each other. However the dark haired Mother frowning when she noticed how fast the young toddler was eating her breakfast, barely allowing herself to breath between big mouthfuls.

"Slow down Maiya, you're going to make yourself choke like that,"

Folding her arms across her chest Mei caused her four year old daughter to look back to her and frown slightly, as she slowed down and continued to eat her cereal, but taking it at more of a steady pace when she saw her birth Mother still giving her a stern stare, while Yuzu just chuckled nervously and ran a caring hand through Maiya's jet-black hair.

"Aww Mei, you know she's only rushing because she's excited about today," the blonde giving her wife an understanding smile, causing Mei to unfold her arms and just sigh slightly, returning her arms to her sides as she came walking over to her four year old daughter, leaning down beside her so that the young girl would turn to look back to her in response.

"Listen Maiya, I know you're excited that your Grandma's coming over today, but rushing like this won't make her show up any sooner I'm afraid," she explained as she rested a comforting hand over Maiya's, causing her to pout slightly and fold her arms almost mocking how her birth Mother had done the same a few moments ago to her.

"But Mama Harumin is coming over too. Will Matsuri come with her?" the toddler asked as she took her attention off her birth Mother and instead turned to Yuzu, that signature cheerful smile being back on her lips while causing her blonde Mother to smile back to her nervously, and shrugging her shoulders slightly in reply.

"I don't know Maiya-chan, we might just have to wait and see for now,"

She stated as what she had said unsurprisingly resulted in Maiya's happy smile fading and instead looking disappointed, before it seemed like her cheerful mood had almost disappeared now, however to keep the young toddler happy Yuzu quickly thought of something to change the subject with and hopefully distract Maiya from what would be happening later in the day.

"Hey I know, once you've finished your cereal, why don't me and you go and wake up your little sister? I think she's still in bed after all," Yuzu suggested with an encouraging expression to the young toddler, causing her to cheer up almost instantly as she just nodded her head quickly in reply, before wasting no time in finishing off her cereal, so she could go and wake her younger sister up and get her ready for when their visitors would be dropping by later on.

Seeing as how her plan had successfully worked, Yuzu simply winked to Mei and caused her to just smile softly and nod back to her, before she stood up straight again and started to head back into the kitchen, but stopping when she noticed that young Maiya had pretty much quickly wolfed down the rest of her breakfast so that she could jump down from her chair, and go running off to her little sister's bedroom to go and wake her up.

"Yui sure does sleep a lot,"

The lively four year old simply seemed to be thinking out loud as she looked back to her two Mothers for a moment, her classic beaming grin resting on her lips while Yuzu just shrugged her shoulders back to their elder daughter and stood up from her chair, ready to follow Maiya to where her younger sister was sleeping at the moment.

"That's because she's younger and needs her sleep, plus she likes to sleep in like her Mama. Right Mei?" the blonde folding her arms and smirking to her wife, causing Mei to just raise an eyebrow to her slightly in response before she simply just rolled her eyes and walked off back into the kitchen, leaving Yuzu to go and follow their older daughter, ready to go and get their younger daughter up, out of her bed and ready for the day.

The two entering Yui's bedroom as Yuzu opened the door slowly, looking to the light green cot over to the left side of the room, smiling when seeing that the one year old was still sound asleep under her covers, surrounded by all her stuffed animals. Maiya glancing up to her blonde Mother and nodding to her when seeing her putting a single finger up to her lips, gesturing for the four year old to stay quiet as they both walked into the room and slowly closed the door behind them, Yuzu walking over to the cot and young Maiya following after her, while the front panel was soon moved down by the blonde so that Maiya could now see her sleeping, little sister and not have the wooden bars obstructing her vision anymore.

"Wakey, wakey little Yui,"

Speaking in a soft tone, shaking the one year old's shoulder ever so lightly as well as brushing her fair hair out of her face, Yuzu causing Yui to stir in her peaceful sleep a little while she soon mumbled out something that the other two couldn't understand, before she heard her elder sister calling to her and resulted in her blinking her lavender eyes once or twice as they got used to the dim light that was covering the room, coming in from the slightly open curtains.

"Come on Yui. You need to get up! Grandma and Harumin are coming soon," the toddler smiled as she stood beside her younger sister and encouraged her to get out of bed, causing little Yui to sit up and rub her tired eyes, stretching and letting a slight yawn leave her lips, before she looked back to her older sister and birth Mother.

"Grandma?"

She questioned with a curious gaze to her big sister, clearly having little to no idea just what Maiya was going on about at the moment, causing the four year old to just nod back to her happily in response, as she simply jumped up and down in excitement.

"Yeah! Are you excited Yui?" Maiya asked as she simply waited to hear her little sister's response, but Yui just looked back to the four year old with a wondering expression, it being obvious that she really wasn't understanding much of what the toddler was saying, and so just nodded back to her in reply.

However soon finding that she maybe shouldn't have done so as her nodding only caused Maiya to ask her more questions that she didn't understand nor could answer it seemed, "Then show me your rare smile," the elder sister instructed as she looked to her fair-haired sister with a hopeful expression, eagerly awaiting to see the small, gentle smile of her little sister's that she hardly ever saw, wishing there was some way to make her show it off more often. Yui just not getting the message unfortunately as she just tilted her head to the side, looking confused again and turned to her blonde Mother for help, who had been getting some clean clothes out of the draw for little Yui and was now walking back over to stand beside her two young daughters.

Having obviously heard their little conversation Yuzu spoke up and caught Maiya's attention, so that the toddler would look to her now instead of her younger sister, "Maiya-chan, Yui is still so little, she can't understand questions like that just yet," their blonde Mother explained as she laid Yui's clothes out on her bed, ready to get the one year old dressed and ready for the day, while Maiya just sighed heavily, pouting and folding her arms in disappointment and causing Yuzu to just smile to her slightly.

"But I wanna see Yui smile,"

Speaking in a whining tone as she looked back to her little sister, showing her a big, beaming smile, hoping that she would copy her and smile back in response, but instead the one year old just seemed more confused as she glanced back to Yuzu and caused her blonde Mother to just shake her head and change the subject, so that young Maiya wouldn't keep continuing to try and win a battle that she was clearly already losing at the moment.

"Come on, you can help me get little Yui here dressed for the day,"

She suggested with an encouraging smile, knowing that Maiya was only trying to make her little sister happy, but both of them already knew that Yui would only smile when she felt the willing to do so, which unfortunately for her elder sister wasn't now it seemed. The four year old just nodded with a slight shrug of her shoulders as she soon took hold of Yui's small hands and guided her to stand up on her mattress, so that her and their blonde Mother could start getting her changed out of her pyjamas and into her everyday clothes instead.

...

Back in the kitchen Mei had already gotten little Yui's breakfast made, as she placed the small plate of freshly made buttered toast, and scrambled eggs on to the tray of Yui's green highchair. Standing back and nodding to herself the dark haired girl rested her hands on her hips, before she heard a very familiar gentle voice calling out to her, catching her attention and causing her to turn round in response.

"Mama!"

The one year old called out to Mei as she quickly came running into the kitchen and dining area, already having both of her arms outstretched and jumping up, with a pleading expression on her face, obviously wanting her dark haired Mother to pick her up and Mei doing just that as she held little Yui close to her chest and smiled to her softly. Caressing the young girl's cheek as Yui rested her head on Mei's shoulder and nuzzled into her happily, a small smile forming on her lips while her Mother rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head lightly.

"Good morning little Yui, are you ready for some breakfast?"

She asked with a smile, causing Yui to just nod back to her, not really understanding much of what she had said, but showing that she was happy all the same since she was with her 'Mama'. Mei seeing Yuzu and Maiya come back into the kitchen and dining area as she sat little Yui down in her highchair, letting the one year old feed herself, while she looked back over to her wife and older daughter.

"When are Grandma and Harumin coming?" The cheerful toddler asked her two Mothers as she shifted her gaze between them both, causing Yuzu to chuckle slightly as she just rested a hand on top of Maiya's head, ruffling her black hair while Mei just leaned against the dining table, looking to her elder daughter as she came to sit down on one of the dining chairs.

"You won't have to wait for much longer now; they should both be here in a little while," her birth Mother stated as she gave her older daughter an understanding, softened expression, knowing that the lively four year old likely wouldn't really be able to settle until their visitors had shown up and she wouldn't have to wait for them any longer.

Young Maiya just nodding with her regular beaming grin as she quickly turned and ran off to go and grab a few of her toys from her bedroom and move them into the lounge, so that she could play with them together with Harumi and her Grandmother, once they had arrived at the house of course. The two young Mothers just watching their eldest daughter run off out of the kitchen and dining area, both of them sighing slightly as Yuzu just smiled to Mei and saw the gesture that her wife was giving to her, nodding back in response before she turned and began heading into the lounge to keep an eye on the young toddler, while the dark haired girl stayed in the kitchen until little Yui had finished all of her breakfast.

The two left in the kitchen going to join Yuzu and Maiya in the lounge once little Yui had eaten her breakfast, as they all were soon sitting on the floor together, Maiya and her blonde Mother playing with most of her many stuffed animals while Yui was sitting on Mei's lap, the one year old just seeming content enough with watching rather than joining in at all.

Her dark haired Mother just letting a pleasant sigh leave her lips as she also preferred to watch, just running her fingers through her younger daughter's short fair hair, knowing that she got it from her birth Mother and guessing it would likely turn to more of a chestnut brown colour as she grew older, but for now it was a shimmering blonde just like Yuzu's although Yui's being natural unlike her blonde Mother's dyed hair.

Taking her attention off her two young daughters for a moment Mei turned to glance at the clock on the wall, being sure to keep a watchful eye on the time so that she would know if their visitors were running late at all, knowing to keep Maiya distracted in case she started to get upset at any point. However it seemed like she luckily wouldn't have to do that as within only a little over an hour passing, both Yuzu's Mother and Harumi showed up at the exact time they had said they were going to as well as arriving at roughly the same time, meaning that Yuzu and Mei wouldn't have to worry about keeping young Maiya occupied anymore.

...

Both Harumi and Yuzu's Mother arriving and being invited in by Yuzu, while Mei was keeping their two young daughters busy in the lounge still, however as soon as she heard the familiar sound of her Grandma's voice (as well as Harumi's) Maiya jumped up from the floor and quickly came running into the entrance hallway to go and greet their visitors happily, leaving her birth Mother to sigh slightly as she just watched her elder daughter run off. Deciding not to call after her as she already knew the excited four year old wouldn't listen to her, and so just stood up from the floor as she lifted up little Yui along with her, holding her close while the one year old just gripped on to her Mother's shirt, her attention seeming to be on who had come to visit them as she looked to the hallway with a wondering expression.

"Hey Yuzucchi, you all doing well?" Harumi asked as she greeted her best friend with a cheerful smile, the blonde nodding to her in response, having just closed the door behind their two visitors, welcoming her Mother and hugging her a moment before she looked back to the brunette.

"Yeah all things have been going really well for us lately. How about you and Matsuri, I'm sure you've both been having your hands full lately?" Yuzu raising her eyebrow as she smiled to Harumi and just caused her to chuckle nervous, shaking her head in reply and causing the blonde to give her a slightly concerned expression.

"You can say that again,"

The brunette simply just letting a slight sigh escape her, showing that she was clearly tired at the moment as Yuzu rested a caring hand on her friend's shoulder, giving her an understanding smile while Harumi just smiled back to her in return, before they all heard a very familiar voice call out to them all.

"Grandma! Harumin!"

Young Maiya yelled in an excited voice as she came running to where her blonde Mother and their two guests stood in the hallway, smiling up to them all happily as she reached her arms up to her Grandmother, while Ms Okogi smiled back down to her and picked the four year old up, cuddling her close and kissing her cheek lightly as Maiya just nuzzled her beloved Grandma back. Obviously seeming overjoyed to have the two here finally, feeling like she been waiting for them both to arrive for ages now, the cheerful toddler giggling as Harumi ruffled her long hair and stroked her cheek softly, smiling to Maiya to show that she was just as happy to see her as she was to see them both.

"Hey Maiya-chan, have you been missing your Grandma and me?" Harumi asked as she caused the toddler to just quickly nod her head in reply, as it was clear she had been awaiting their visit for quite some time now, the two guests continuing to talk with young Maiya as they all walked back into the lounge together, greeting Mei and little Yui once they got there.

"You bet! Where is Matsuri? Could she not come with you?" Maiya tilting her head to the side slightly as a frown was beginning to form on her lips, while she looked to Harumi and was obviously waiting for an answer from the brunette eagerly, seeming hopeful but becoming disappointed when hearing Harumi's reply.

"I'm sorry Maiya-chan but Matsuri couldn't come today, she has to stay at home for now, but maybe she can come next time?" suggesting with a bit of a nervous smile Harumi felt bad for the toddler as she knew she had been looking forward to seeing both her and her wife again, but unfortunately it seemed like she would have to wait a little longer to see the two of them, like she had been wanting for a good while now.

"Okay..."

The four year old nodding after a short pause, as it was clear hearing that had brought her mood down somewhat, but trying not to let it bother her too much as she just shook her head and tried to think of something to take her mind off of Matsuri not being here, like she had been hoping for. Causing all the others to just give the toddler slight smiles as they knew Maiya was trying to not show how upset she really was, and feeling kind of relieved that she was willing to change the subject, rather than focus on what was making her feel a bit sad at this current point in time.

"Harumin! Tell me more stories about when I was a baby?"

Trying to distract herself from the slight disappointment she was feeling, young Maiya asked as she looked to Harumi with that excited tone back in her voice again thankfully, causing the brunette to just smile and chuckle in response. Ms Okogi having put the toddler down to sit on the floor now, as Harumi came to sit beside her while Maiya's Grandma sat with Yuzu and Mei on the sofa, them all talking to one another as little Yui was still sitting on her dark haired Mother's lap, clinging to her 'Mama' as she often would when they had guests round at their house.

"Maiya-chan I think I've already told you all there is to tell to be honest..." shrugging her shoulders slightly, Harumi paused and tried to think to herself for a moment as she saw young Maiya beginning to pout at her in response, but luckily enough the brunette seemed to have thought of something to cheer the toddler up in no time at all.

"But I've got an idea, could you tell me some things about when little Yui was a tiny baby? After all Matsuri and me weren't able to come around for a visit back then very often, so I imagine we must have missed quite a few things in that time," the brunette giving Maiya a bit of a nervous smile, hoping that she would take her up on her idea and fortunately the toddler seeming to be willing to do just that, as she looked back to Harumi with a curious gaze while she wondered what she could tell Harumi about when her little sister was a baby, which really wasn't too long ago from now since Yui was only a year old after all.

"Like what?"

"Well...can you remind me of what her first word was; I think I've forgotten," Harumi not exactly being truthful at the moment but it not really being that much of a big deal, as Maiya simply just shrugged her shoulders and glanced over to her younger sister, seeing the one year old just look content while she sat gazing up to her two Mothers and watched them both talk with her Grandmother happily.

Turning back to the brunette now Maiya simply smiled as she thought the answer might be more than obvious really, but decided to say it anyway, "It was 'Mama'," she simply stated as she caused Harumi to just nod in response, already knowing what the answer was going to be, but pretending that she didn't as to keep up her 'act' so that the toddler would stay distracted from thinking about any questions, that may just cause Harumi to feel uneasy.

"Ah now I remember, although I guess I should have figured as much, little Yui does love her 'Mama' after all," gesturing over to Maiya's little sister with her thumb, with another nervous smile as she tried to think of more questions she could ask of the four year old, while her gesture causing the toddler to glance back over to her younger sister and watch her for a few moments. Her emerald eyes widening when she saw Mei look down to Yui and ran a hand through her short, fair hair, and resulted in the infant to soon smile back up to her happily in response.

"Mama?"

Catching the attention of her birth Mother, Maiya called to Mei and caused her to stop talking with Yuzu and her Mom, and instead look back to her elder daughter with a curious expression, while all the others also focused more on the four year old when they all heard what the question was that the toddler asked a moment later.

"What is it, Maiya?"

"How come only you can make Yui smile?" the toddler causing all the others to look surprised, as they all glanced round at one another, seeming unsure of what exactly to say in response to her older daughter's question, Mei took a couple of moments to compose herself before she just shook her head and softened her expression.

"Maiya, it's not just me that makes Yui smile you know, she smiles at other people as well," giving her daughter a caring gaze, knowing herself that little Yui wasn't one to show off her smile to just anyone, but she wanted to reassure Maiya and she was sure there were more people that Yui had smiled at beside herself of course.

"I wish she would smile at me," Maiya sighed as she pouted slightly, causing the others to all look a little concerned for her, wondering just what they could do in order to cheer the four year old up, figuring that trying to distract her again by changing the subject wouldn't really do the trick a second time though.

"Oh sweetheart, I'm sure little Yui will smile for you, just give her some time. After all you're her big sister and she loves you," Ms Okogi explained as she hoped her words would reassure the downhearted toddler, but that not seeming to be the case unfortunately as Maiya just turned away from her Grandma, and looked back to her many teddies instead.

"That's not how it feels sometimes," she replied in a low tone, while all the others looked around at one another again, seeming lost on just what they could say here to try and make young Maiya feel better, but them all being at a loss at the moment sadly.

Yuzu was just about to say something as an idea had entered her mind, however not getting the chance to say anything since she was cut off by a very familiar voice calling to Harumi and catching everyone's attention, causing them all to look to the entrance hallway with questioning expressions.

"Harumi, are you here?!"

The brunette hearing her wife's voice calling to her from the hallway, causing her to look taken aback as she quickly stood up upon seeing Matsuri now walking into the lounge. The younger girl resting a hand on her hip as she raised an eyebrow to Harumi, and was using her other hand to keep a tight hold of the sleeping newborn that was currently being held against her shoulder.

"Matsuri what are you doing here?" quickly walking over to her wife Harumi looked to Matsuri with a nervous expression, as the others all looked just as surprised to see the younger girl here as the brunette was at the moment, while causing Matsuri to just give Harumi a stern stare in response.

"What do you think? Why didn't tell me that you were going round to visit Yuzu and Mei?" having quite the irritated tone in her voice Matsuri obviously wanted an explanation from her wife, as the others all looked to one another with nervous smiles, guessing they should have figured that the younger girl might've shown up here after working out that this is where her wife had gone to.

"This is why, I knew you would want to come along if I told you where I was really going, I told you I had been called in for a meeting so that you would actually agree to stay at home and get some rest while I had put Misa-chan down for her nap," explaining with a slight sigh Harumi rested a caring hand on her wife's shoulder, hoping that she would see things from her point of view, Matsuri however just seeming unamused as she walked past the brunette and instead came to sit down on the armchair, while young Maiya came walking over to greet her.

"Matsuri! You came to see us!" she happily stated as she seemed to have cheered up now as she had been distracted with Matsuri showing up, and looking like she had forgotten about how she was feeling when it came to her little sister for the time being at least.

"You bet I did, I wouldn't ever miss the chance to come and see you after all. How have you been doing Maiya-chan?" Matsuri smiled to the cheerful toddler, seeming to be ignoring her wife at the moment but still glancing back to her slightly, causing Harumi to frown back to her while the others just all greeted the younger girl, and hoped she would soon just forgive Harumi and stop giving her the cold shoulder.

"Good. Can I hold baby Misa-chan?"

The smiling four year old asked as she sat down beside the young Mother and shifted her emerald eyes to the little newborn, who was still sleeping soundly against her birth Mother's shoulder. Matsuri just nodding simply as she moved over a bit so that Maiya would have more room to sit on the rather large armchair, turning and lying the sleeping newborn into the toddler's arms, guiding her to support the small baby correctly and instructing her to 'be very careful', while Maiya nodded back to her in reply.

"Of course you can Maiya-chan, just know that she's been sleeping for a while now, so she might wake up soon," that seeming to make Maiya even more excited as she gazed down to the resting newborn lying in her arms, seeing her stir in her sleep a little while she stroked her short brown hair gently, knowing how careful she had to be as this obviously wasn't her first time holding the tiny baby.

Matsuri just smiling to her newborn daughter and the four year old holding her close, before her attention was caught by her wife again as she came walking over to crouch down in front of her now, "Listen Matsuri...I'm worried about you that's why I didn't tell you that I was coming here, I mean we both know you haven't really slept at all since Misa-chan was born, so I wanted to give you the chance to maybe sleep a little while I was gone and our little girl was having a nap. I'm sorry okay...but how did you figure out that I was here anyway?" Harumi trying to reason with her wife and make her understand what her feelings were, causing Matsuri to seem unconvinced at first before she soon just sighed and guessed she shouldn't stay mad at the brunette, when she was only looking out for her and trying to help her.

"I was going to go to sleep, but I noticed that you had left your keys on the bedside table, and I didn't know if I would be awake when you got home, so I called up your work to find there was no meeting that you needed to come in for at all. And from there it wasn't really all that difficult to guess where you had actually gone to," the younger girl explained as she caused her wife to look nervously back to her, cursing herself with her head hung low for foolishly forgetting to pick up her keys and take them with her when she left the house earlier. However her expression changing when Matsuri spoke again and she lifted her head up a few moments later.

"I know you worry about me a lot, but...can you at least tell me where you are really going in future, and I promise I won't want to come along _every_ time," she suggested as she formed her lips into a softened smile, causing Harumi to just widen her eyes a little, before nodding her head and smiling in reply.

"Deal,"

Sighing with relief a moment later Harumi leaned into her wife more, kissing her on her forehead lightly while Matsuri just nuzzled against the brunette lovingly, the others all just smiling as they were glad it was much easier for the married couple to get through arguments and make up than it used to be for them, although they all knew the two had always found a way to work it out between them somehow.

"Well now that that's sorted out, I can't believe Misa-chan is already almost three weeks old, she still looks so tiny," Yuzu chimed in as she caused the other couple to look back to her and nod in agreement, feeling the same as the blonde when it came to their little newborn, although they were sure she would start to grow and develop in no time at all.

"Oh that's right, little Yui hasn't met Misa-chan yet, has she?"

Matsuri thinking out loud it seemed, as she had just remembered that her friend's younger daughter hadn't yet met her and Harumi's little girl, glancing over to Mei as she caught her attention and gestured for her to bring over the one year old, while the infant just was looking over to the baby with a curious expression.

"Go on Yui, you can go over and see her if you want to,"

Mei simply stated as she put Yui down, causing her to look back to her for a couple of moments, the infant seeing her Mother just smiling to her and giving her an encouraging nod, before she turned round and came walking over to her older sister and gazed down to the little newborn that she was currently holding in her arms still.

"This is Harumi and Matsuri's baby Yui. Her name is Misaka,"

Maiya introducing the little newborn to her younger sister as she smiled to the one year old, causing Yui to glance to her with a wondering expression, before she looked back to the sleeping baby, seeing that she was more of a mix between her two Mothers not really looking like just one of them and instead having features from both of them it seemed. With brunette hair like Harumi and bright blue eyes just like Matsuri, Yui saw the newborn blink once or twice as she slowly began to wake up, yawning slightly as she squirmed in Maiya's arms a bit.

"Can you say 'baby' Yui?" her elder sister asked, causing Yui to glance back to her again looking like she didn't quite understand at first, but upon turning back to the baby a small smile formed on her lips, looking to Maiya again as she repeated what word she was able to understand.

"Baby,"

She said in a happy tone, causing her elder sister to widen her eyes and look surprised, clearly not expecting Yui to say anything, let alone say the word she had told her to say and show off her rare smile along with it. The four year old seeming overjoyed as she beamed brightly, and glanced over to her two Mothers.

"Mama, Mommy! Yui smiled at me!" the toddler exclaimed as she caused her two Mothers, as well as the other three to smile to her in return, being glad that Maiya had cheered up and now hopefully wouldn't think that her little sister didn't love her, when in fact it was obvious that the infant showed her love in her own subtle ways.

"You see, I told you she would," her Grandma simply smiled as she winked to her elder Granddaughter, causing Maiya to just nod back to her, before she looked back to her little sister and patted her on top of her head lightly.

"You are so cute Yui! I just love your smile,"

She stated as she caused Yui to look back to her with a wondering expression, before she soon just looked back to the newborn in her big sister's arms and smiled to her instead, while the others all felt that once little baby Misaka had grown up a bit she would likely become fast friends with both Maiya and Yui. All of them watching and smiling to the three young girls as it was clear that a strong bond was already being formed between them all, which everyone was sure would only grow stronger as the three of them grew and developed together, learning and discovering new things as they spent more and more time alongside one another.

**...**

**Hope you all enjoyed the third one-shot in this sequel series and the next one-shot should be up in about a week from now just you know. **

**Thank you all for reading by the way. ^_^ **

**Killerchainsaw ;) **


	4. The Favorite

**Author's Notes: **

**I don't own Citrus or any of its characters, no copyright is intended.**

**This story is set after the events of another called 'Whatever The Future May Bring', so please go and read that story before reading this one so that you will be caught up on everything that has happened so far.**

_Italics - Means the person is thinking._

**Summary for one-shot:  
**

Set ten years after the previous one-shot (I know big time skip, but I wanted to do more about when the children are in their preteen/teenage years rather than when they are young kids just because I have more interesting ideas for them when they are older but not in high school just yet) Mei and Yuzu are in their thirtys now and have their own successful jobs with Yuzu being the assisant chef at a local family resaurant, and Mei working as the head mistress of the Aihara academy after her Grandfather retired and passed away a few years back. Maiya is fourteen and in her second year of middle school, Yui is twelve and Misaka is eleven, with both of them being in elementary school, her and Yui having become great friends while growing up around each other and being roughly around the same age.

However Yui doesn't seem to get along with her big sister Maiya a lot these days, as they are constantly arguing and their Mothers having to break them up all the time. Maiya not being able to help being jealous of her little sister as she always seems to get things to go her way somehow. Leading the teen to believe that Yui is 'The favorite' in their little family leaving her always having to compromises for her younger sister.

**This story contains 'Science babies', don't question it, just enjoy it. ^_^**

**Warning: This contains yuri (girl x girl) pairings, don't like? Don't read simple otherwise enjoy. ;)  
**

**...**

The one who was always up the earliest in the house was normally Yuzu, as it didn't matter whether she was working or not that day she would still often get up a while before her wife and two daughters, usually being the one that was dressed and having already eaten her breakfast first. However today that all seemed different considering the fact that the blonde woke up to an empty space beside her this morning, when ordinarily her dark haired, beautiful wife would be there, sleeping soundly but instead Mei as Yuzu would soon find out was standing in the kitchen, having already eaten her own breakfast and now was busy making her daughters' lunches ready for both girls to take to school with them.

Letting out a pleasant sigh Mei was keeping her eye on the clock on the wall, glancing to it every so often, as she was sure it wouldn't be long at all until she would no longer be the only one that was up and getting prepared for the day ahead. Years ago when it was just her, Yuzu and her Mother living in their small apartment together the dark haired girl used to dread being on her own like this, however now these quiet moments with just her by herself seemed like much more of a blessing. But Mei herself knowing that this peaceful time with just her being alone wouldn't last very long, after all it never really does and although that's not always a bad thing to her, she sometimes did hope for this time to last just a little bit longer than it normally did.

However it wasn't like Mei minded it all that much when her 'alone time' came to an end, especially when the one cutting it short was her beloved blonde wife, and so the dark haired girl not really being all that disappointed, nor surprised when she soon felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her waist and pull her into a close embrace from behind. Causing her to stop preparing her daughters' lunches and instead just let a small smile form on her lips, relaxing in the tight hug as she felt she must have been focusing on her own thoughts too much, since she didn't hear the blonde at all until she was already right behind her.

"Good morning my sweet, might I ask what you are doing up so early?" she heard her wife speak to her in a low tone, already being able to tell that she was likely smirking to her without even having to glance back at all, as she instead just continued with what she was doing, not paying Yuzu much attention and resulting in the blonde resting her chin on Mei's shoulder in response.

"Well since you are almost always getting the girl's lunches ready while I'm still in bed, I thought I could do it today instead. After all I've got a meeting this morning before school starts, so I'm up anyway," the younger girl simply explained as she shrugged her shoulders, and gave a slight glance back to the blonde clinging to her at the moment as she soon felt a few small kisses being planted on the nape of her exposed neck, causing her to raise her eyebrow a little while not really reacting all that much to her wife's advances it would seem.

"Aww I could've done that for you," Yuzu's voice coming out in a bit of a whining tone, frowning as she caused Mei to just shake her head in reply.

"It really wasn't a problem at all Yuzu,"

"But...I missed waking up next to you," Mei not having to look at the blonde to know she was pouting at the moment, but the younger girl just staying quiet as she finished getting their daughters' lunches together and ready, while just letting a small sigh leave her lips.

'_Then I suppose I'm getting...'punished' for it as she would call this,'_ she thought with a slight shrug of her shoulders and bit her bottom lip, allowing Yuzu to continue planting small, sweet kisses all over the back of her neck, clearly not minding seeing this 'needy' side to the blonde at all as she was pretty much all too used to it by now.

Simply leaning her head forward slightly as she gave Yuzu an easier access to her neck, feeling the blonde brushing her long hair out of the way as she soon whispered into Mei's sensitive ear, "That was cruel of you Mei, you made me miss seeing your peaceful sleeping face," the whining tone never leaving the blonde's voice as it was obvious she was now sulking, causing Mei to just lean away from Yuzu and couldn't help but shiver when she felt her wife's warm breath on her skin.

"So every morning you stare at me like some pervert before deciding to get up?" Mei asked before she turned round in Yuzu's embrace and folded her arms across her chest, causing the blonde to smile nervously back to her and go a little quiet, before the younger girl just shook her head slightly and let Yuzu pull her close again, giving her wife her classic pleading look.

"Come on Mei, don't brush me off like that, I haven't had a 'Good morning kiss' from you yet after all,"

"Yuzu you know the girls will be up soon enough, and I doubt they'll want to see their Mothers making out in the kitchen when they come for their breakfast," pushing the blonde away from her Mei just rested her hands on her hips, not resisting however when Yuzu grabbed her hand and didn't let her walk away, rolling her eyes and softening her smile as she held tightly on to both of Mei's hands.

"Oh come on Mei, you know they won't be up for a while yet, a little will be okay right?" the blonde giving her wife a hopeful look, feeling the younger girl squeeze her hands back, however Mei knowing she wouldn't need to say anything at all as she could practically time what likely was going to happen next.

'_And three, two, one...'_ she thought with a slight smirk tugging on her lips, as just like she had predicted the two of them heard a loud door slam from the hallway, before their two daughters came walking into the kitchen and dining area, already bickering with each other about something as was usual with them both.

"You were saying?"

The younger girl just raising her eyebrow once again as she caused Yuzu to grit her teeth together slightly, before just sighing deeply and letting go of Mei's hands, allowing her to go and walk over to their two daughters while she just leaned against the counter and looked disappointed, deciding she might as well start making her own breakfast for now since she herself would have to shoot off to work rather soon too.

"Why are you such a pain?" Maiya's voice being raised and full of anger as she glared to her younger sister, giving the fair-haired preteen a warning stare, however young Yui just taking no notice of it at the moment.

"Why can't you just let things go for once?" she shot back, folding her arms across her chest and turned her head away from her elder sister, only causing the teen to become even more mad at her, neither one of them wanting to back down at all it would seem.

"Why are you two always at each other's throats all the time?" Mei asked as she stood in-between her two bickering daughters, knowing that their arguments would never normally get physical at all, but deciding that putting some space between them would be better while the two sisters continued to glare at each other, clearly not paying much attention to their dark haired Mother at the moment.

"Because she's an annoying idiot," the elder sister raising her voice once again as she made a angered gestured to her younger sister with one hand, neither of them looking to their Mother at all while Yui just smirked back and rested her hands on her hips, mocking the gesture that Maiya had just directed at her.

"You're the stupid one that clearly doesn't know what the words, 'No big deal' mean,"

"This is a big deal you dunce!"

"Alright enough with the name calling; now what it's about this time?" breaking up the two young girls Mei rested a hand on their shoulders, keeping them both separated still as she caused them to glance to her, but obviously they were still hell-bent on continuing their heated argument from the looks of things.

"What do you think Mama? Look, she's wearing my clothes again," the teen stated in an aggravated tone, brushing her Mother's hand off her shoulder as she grabbed her little sister by the shirt and gestured to it, pulling the younger girl towards her as she caused Yui to just roll her lavender eyes and yank the shirt back, making her older sister let go of her but still glaring to her in return.

"It's just a t-shirt,"

"I don't care if it's just a t-shirt, I've already told you to stay out of my room,"

"I didn't go into your room," the younger girl pointed out as she caused her older sister to just look back to her with a questioning gaze, raising her eyebrow while Yui simply just folded her arms and turned her head away from Maiya again.

"What do you mean?"

"You dropped it out of your washing basket, you didn't pick up so I actually got this t-shirt from the hallway floor," simply explaining just how she had gotten her hands on the t-shirt, Yui giving a blank stare to her elder sister now and causing her to bawl her fists in response, her confused look completely disappearing as she instead gave her younger sister another irritated expression.

"That doesn't mean you can take it for yourself, why didn't you just give it back to me?"

"You left it on the floor,"

"I didn't know I had dropped it you-

"Okay, okay that's enough, now I really don't have time for this so can't you just let Yui borrow your t-shirt for today Maiya?" Mei breaking up the two again, stopping them from starting to call each other names again, as she clearly looked like she was tired of having to deal with these arguments all the time, knowing that Yuzu was likely feeling the same since they both have had to break their two daughters up in the past many times before now.

Maiya looking taken aback as she turned back to her Mother, but soon figuring that she probably shouldn't act surprised really since she knew their 'Mama' would always take her little sister's side all the time, _'Well she is the favourite after all,'_ the teen thought before she tried to reason with her Mother as she didn't want to give in just yet, although she guessed she was likely going to be fighting a losing battle here.

"But Mama I-

"She'll give it back to you later, right Yui?" the dark haired Mother looking back to her younger daughter as she gave her a bit of a hopeful gaze, causing the young preteen to just nod her head and smile back to her in reply.

"Of course Mama,"

She grinned as she put on her 'innocent' act that her elder sister knew all too well, causing Maiya to just glare daggers back to her and almost look ready to get into another argument with her fair haired sister, but instead just took a deep breath and folded her arms across her chest, knowing that giving in would be her only way out of this, so deciding it would be better if she chose to do it sooner rather than later.

"Fine,"

Was her response spoken in a low tone, seeing her younger sister stick her tongue out at her, gloating over the fact that she had 'won' yet again, causing Maiya to turn away from her and sigh slightly as she just walked over to the dining table, waiting for her breakfast to be made by her blonde Mother, while leaving her little sister to just smile up to their dark haired Mother and getting a gentle head-pat and a smile in return from her beloved 'Mama'.

"Good, now I've got to go, so I'll see you two after school alright?"

Glancing back to her elder daughter and causing Maiya to just nod back to her, giving her a reluctant wave before just turning her attention on to her mobile phone instead. Her birth Mother frowning slightly as she looked to her teenage daughter for a little bit longer, then soon being distracted when she felt young Yui hug her tightly and resulted in her turning back to her younger daughter.

"Bye Mama, I love you!" the smiling preteen stated as she nuzzled into her dark haired Mother and caused her to hug her back, kissing her forehead lightly and stroking her fair hair softly, before letting go of her younger daughter.

"I love you too," she replied as she smiled while watching Yui just walk over to the dining table, sitting beside her elder sister and waving to her Mother happily, before Mei just walked over to her wife and pecked her on the cheek lightly, causing the blonde to give her an caring smile in return.

"Make sure they at least don't kill each other alright?" Mei lowering her voice as she glanced back to their two daughters and saw them both just avoid making eye contact with each other, Yuzu just chuckling in reply as she nodded to her wife.

"Easier said than done,"

The blonde said looking a little nervous, as Mei just gave her an encouraging smile in response, wishing her good luck before she gave another wave goodbye to her two daughters and was soon leaving out the front door of their home, having left Yuzu to cope through the aftermath of the little squabble between the two sisters as they were pretty much silent from that moment on until they eventually had to leave for school together.

Both of the young girls seeming eager to leave quickly and get away from each other, while leaving their two Mothers to only hope things would be better between them once they had cooled down and spent the day at their different schools, while Mei and Yuzu could now distract themselves from their constantly arguing daughters by focusing on their work instead. With Yuzu soon also leaving home to work in her restaurant and Mei off to be the headmistress of Aihara academy, it was fair to say the two of them had enough to take their minds off of what was currently going on with their daughters as of lately.

...

Maiya being more than glad when she had separated from her younger sister leaving her to go off to her middle school, while Yui was soon joined by her close friend Misaka as they walked to their elementary school together, the older sister just letting a heavy sigh leave her lips as she slumped down in her chair. Sitting at her desk in the almost empty classroom, while she waited and gazed out of the window with her elbow propping her up and her chin resting on the palm of her hand.

"She's such a pest," the young teen thought out loud to herself as she shook her head, trying to not think about how much her little sister often annoyed and angered her on a daily basis, while also hoping that the bell would ring soon and classes would start so that she could focus on other things instead.

"Who's such a pest?"

Hearing a familiar voice bringing her out of her thoughts, Maiya widened her eyes and turned to the person who was now sitting in the seat in front of her desk, having not noticed the girl with crimson red hair sitting there until she had called out to her it seemed, the dark haired teen just greeting her closest friend with a simple small smile.

"Oh hey Rinne and who do you think? My little sister of course," she stated, rolling her emerald eyes when simply just thinking about her younger sister, causing the other teen to just smirk and lean over her friend's desk, propping herself up on both of her elbows and raising her eyebrow slightly to Maiya in response.

"Yui-chan again huh, don't you ever get tired of fighting with her all the time?" Rinne shaking her head slightly, chuckling a little as she guessed she shouldn't have expected much different, considering this is how most of their mornings began, especially when Maiya has obviously had another one of her many arguments with her younger sister.

"Of course I do, and it's not like I want to fight with her all the time, but she's always doing such irritating and frustrating things, really it's now wonder why I get mad at her so often. Just know you're lucky that you don't have to deal with having a little sister like me," the dark haired teen sighed deeply as she leaned back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest, causing her friend to just lean further forward over Maiya's desk, knowing that the other teen was clearly seeing how much she was actually enjoying this at this moment, as Maiya herself knew how much Rinne liked to tease her especially when she was already annoyed over something or someone in this case.

"Yeah I don't think my parents could cope with a baby along with me to be honest," the redhead chuckled in a bit of a nervous tone, as Maiya just chuckled in response and nodded her head to her best friend, looking like she was going to make a comment about Rinne, however the other teen cut her off and continued talking before she could say anything at all.

"But you know you could try going a little easier on her sometimes, you are her 'big' sister after all, Mai-chan," changing the subject back to who they were originally talking about, Rinne directing the conversation off of herself and back on to the other teen's younger sister again, causing Maiya to just roll her eyes and give out quite the obvious displeased groan in reply.

"You're starting to sound like Mama now,"

"Ah so that's what this is really about huh? I had a feeling Yui-chan wasn't really the only one you were mad at," letting her slight smirk widen, Rinne sat and waited to hear more from the other teen simply.

"...I just wish she would take my side and back me up sometimes, instead of always coming to Yui's rescue like she can do no wrong, no matter what it's about," Maiya explained after a short pause as she leaned forward over her desk now, lowering her tone a little while Rinne didn't reply at all, instead she just smiled to the dark haired teen and stroked her long, black hair softly, letting her friend get all of her pent up feelings out and not wanting to interrupt her at all it seemed at this moment.

"Then again it's not like I should expect any less, she is 'The favourite' after all," turning to gaze back out of the window again, Maiya seeming like she was trying to distract herself just like she was a little while ago, but clearly not really letting it go just yet as Rinne just rested her hand over Maiya's, giving her more of an understanding expression rather than her teasing smirk from earlier.

"Is that really what your Moms' have said?"

Rinne asked as she tried lending her ear to her friend, squeezing her hand tightly and just waiting for her to carry on with her ranting and complaining, wanting to help Maiya out if she could in anyway, after all although she did like teasing the other teen and making her more annoyed at times she was still her closest friend at the end of it all.

"No, they both say they love us 'equally', and although I do believe Mom...Mama...she's been spoiling Yui since she was a baby, so what do you think?" the dark haired teen looking like she had mostly gotten all her anger out of her system for now, resting her head on the desk and causing Rinne to just think to herself for a few moments, before she caught Maiya's attention and made her lift her head back up in response.

"Well...if you really what my opinion on this matter, I think you should talk to your 'Mama' about all this, I mean I guess you've probably already tried talking with her but...there's nothing wrong with trying again right?" the redhead giving her friend more of an encouraging smile, as well as having a hopeful look in her dark brown eyes, causing Maiya to seem like she was thinking to herself for a little while, before she soon just shook her head and nodded to Rinne.

"Maybe you're right Rinne,"

"I am right, plus I'll be right there to support you through it all, k?"

Winking to Maiya, Rinne just gave a reassuring smile to her close friend, showing the other teen a proud thumbs up and causing the dark haired teen to just chuckle slightly and smile back to her in return, thanking the redhead a moment later before they both heard the bell begin to ring loudly. Alerting them that morning classes were just about to start and they would have to stop talking to each other for now, while the rest of the students came rushing into the classroom, so as to not be scolded for being late by the teacher.

Maiya just giving out another long sigh as the teacher soon walked into the classroom and began the first lesson, her mind clearly being focused on other things at the moment, just spending most of the lesson staring blankly at the teacher but not really listing to anything they were saying. While she wondered if taking her best friend's advice and talking to her 'Mama' would actually work at all in improving the situation with her little sister or if it would be just another lost cause like all her other attempts had been in the past.

...

It not being long before the majority of the day seemed to pass by for both Mei and Yuzu as before they knew it their work was done for the day and their two daughters would soon be returning home from their schools. Mei coming home in a bit of a tired state, guessing that the stress of being the headmistress of a high school as well as the strain of her daughters constantly bickering adding to it all had been getting to her a lot lately, feeling relieved to be home once again, however being surprised to see her blonde wife standing in the lounge, obviously having been waiting for her and now welcoming her back with a caring smile.

"Welcome home Mei!"

"Yeah...what are you doing home this early Yuzu? You normally don't finish work until the evening when we are all having dinner," Mei asked as she looked confused, but also glad all the same it seemed as she caused Yuzu to just shrug her shoulders slightly in response, walking over to her and already pulling the dark haired girl into a tight hug.

"The restaurant wasn't all that busy today, so we all decided to just close up and finish early rather than just keep waiting for customers to come in, which clearly was a bit of a fruitless effort really. But anyway how was your day at work?" the blonde explained simply as she held on to Mei by her waist, changing the subject and causing her wife to just sigh heavily in reply, the dark haired girl just nuzzling into Yuzu lovingly as her voice came out in a low tone.

"Tiring,"

Was her simply reply as she felt Yuzu slightly swaying to the sweet silence in the room, causing Mei to do the same as it wasn't long before she had linked her arms around the blonde's neck, while they slow danced together in the middle of the lounge and keeping their conversation relatively short as the blissful quiet soon filled the room.

"Well now you can just forgot all about it,"

Yuzu whispering to her beloved wife, smiling to her and causing her to just relax in the her warm embrace, Mei just letting all her stress and worries slowly melt away, enjoying this small moment of 'alone time' with just the two of them as both of them knew it wouldn't last long but treasuring it all the same. The two soon locking their lips in a kiss, Mei allowing Yuzu to deepen it as the kiss became more and more passionate with each passing second, slight moans escaping from both of them as they became lost in the kiss, holding each other close and not really wanting this time together to ever end.

But of course it had to eventually as within a few more moments the two Mothers soon heard the sound of the front door opening and closing, along with the unmistakable voices of their elder daughter and her best friend, causing both Yuzu and Mei to sigh and break apart from the deep kiss just as Maiya and Rinne came walking into the lounge together.

"Hey we get it that you two love each other and all, but could you not do that kind of thing in front of us please?" the dark haired teen recoiling and shielding her eyes with an arm, turning her head away from her two Mothers as they were still embraced in a tight hug, causing Mei and Yuzu to both just chuckle slightly as they pulled away from each other and smiled to their older daughter, welcoming her home while Rinne just snickered in response.

"Wow good job we got here when we did, otherwise we could have been coming home to hear some very lewd noises coming from this room, not to mention the embarrassing situation we would have walked in on," the redhead smirked as she talked behind her hand to Maiya, causing her to chuckle slightly back to Rinne while her two Mothers both rolled their eyes to the other teen.

"Like we've already told you many times before, this isn't your home Rinne-san,"

Mei stated in quite the stern tone, giving the young teen a warning stare but already knowing it wouldn't work on her at all, the redhead just shrugging her shoulders simply as she grabbed hold of Maiya's hand and led her to the door to the hallway, the dark haired teen just letting herself be pulled by her friend and feeling a little bit sorry for her Mothers often having to deal with the troublesome teen that was her best friend.

"Well it should be, after all I'm here a lot more than I am at my own place," simply replying with a smile and a wink, Rinne dragged Maiya off to the kitchen a moment later so that they could grab something to eat before they would likely head to the dark haired teen's bedroom as was usual for them both after school.

"Remind me again how our Maiya ended up being friends with a girl like that," rubbing her temple with one hand Mei sighed heavily once again, as she shook her head, dreading when that teen would be moving up to the Aihara high school along with her elder daughter in about a year's time. It being obvious that she wasn't really looking for a response from her wife, but feeling glad when Yuzu just rested a comforting hand on her shoulder and kissed her forehead lightly, allowing her troubles to melt away again for a few seconds.

"And here I always thought Yui's friend would be the one we'd have trouble with," the dark haired Mother thought out loud in a low tone, causing Yuzu to look a little confused now.

"What's so troublesome about Misa-chan?" she asked as Mei quickly turned to look back at her and shake her head in reply.

"Nothing...but you know how one of her Mother's is, so it was a little hard not to judge her as maybe being the same as her in some ways," explaining in a bit of a nervous tone, Mei just causing Yuzu to shrug her shoulders as it was clear they had some different views when it came to their younger daughter's close friend.

"I've always thought as Misa-chan being more like a mix between both Harumin and Matsuri really, on looks and personality wise to be honest," the blonde simply saying what she thought of their friends' daughter, causing Mei to just nod back to her.

"Yeah...I guess I could see that," she agreed in a low tone, before they both heard the sound of the front door opening and closing again, along with the cheerful voice of their younger daughter calling to them and her close friend doing the same as the two preteens made their way into the lounge.

"Mom! Mama! I'm home, and I brought Mi-chan along with me!"

"Pardon the intrusion,"

"Speak of the devil,"

Mei commented in a lowered tone, as Yuzu just smiled back to her and chuckled slightly at their younger daughter's uncanny timing, before they both turned to look to the two young girls and welcomed them back from school, while Yui soon came running over to her dark haired Mother and hugged her tightly. Clearly being overjoyed to be back home with her 'Mama' again, Yui smiling brightly as she nuzzled into her Mother while Mei just hugged her younger daughter back and smiled back to her, before greeting Misaka and leaning down to be at the same eye-level as them both.

"How was school today?"

"Great! Mi-chan says this t-shirt really suits me," the fair haired preteen smiling as she tugged on the yellow t-shirt that she was wearing underneath her uniform, glancing to her close friend while causing the brunette to smile and nod back to her in return. Mei to just smiling to her younger daughter, stroking her cheek lightly as Yui just giggled and nuzzled into her Mother's gentle touch happily.

"Well although it is a bit big on you, it does look nice," she stated causing her younger daughter to cheerfully just nod back to her and grin brightly in response.

"Do you think Maiya will let me wear it for tomorrow as well?" Yui questioned just as her elder sister and Rinne came walking back into the lounge, upon hearing her little sister's question directed at their dark haired Mother, Maiya winded her eyes while a slight glare was already forming in them.

"Why don't you try asking her for yourself?" standing back up straight, Mei gestured to her elder daughter, causing Yui to just smile to her sister and putting on her innocent act, while that just resulting in Maiya staring to the fair haired preteen sternly.

"Can I Maiya, please?" pleading with a hidden sly look in her lavender eyes, Yui causing her big sister to just roll her eyes and groan, shaking her head a moment later.

"No you can't Yui, you aren't even meant to be wearing your own clothes under your uniform, so I'm certainly not going to let you wear mine for another day," the dark haired teen speaking in a serious tone as she folded her arms, and it being clear that she was going to stick to her guns this time, and not give into her little sister's games, no matter how innocent she was pretending to be towards her and everyone else right now.

After hearing her older sister's reply Yui instantly looked disappointed, pouting and gazing down to the floor, causing Maiya to just bite her bottom lip as she knew just what her annoying little sister was trying to do at the moment, but keeping her anger in check since she didn't really want to get into another heated argument with the fair haired preteen. Holding herself back while Yuzu and Mei both seemed concerned for their younger daughter, clearly not catching on to her 'act' as quick as Maiya had, Mei especially not wanting to see Yui get upset and so turning back to Maiya, catching the teen's attention and having her look back to her.

"Come on Maiya, it's just for one more day after all,"

Looking to her elder daughter with a pleading gaze, Mei hoped the stubborn teen would let her younger sister borrow her t-shirt for just another day, however causing Maiya to widen her eyes and look a bit taken aback for a moment. Although guessing that she really shouldn't have been surprised at all as she glared back to her birth Mother, feeling like she couldn't hold back her anger anymore.

"Do you have to spoil her all the time Mama?" she asked as she lowered her tone and looked away from her birth Mother, causing Mei to seem confused in response, giving her elder daughter a questioning expression and going to ask what Maiya had meant by what she said, but was cut off by the teen before she could even finish.

"Maiya what do you me-

"For once...just for once I wish you would take my side,"

Maiya just shaking her head as she sighed deeply, before turning on her heel and running off to her bedroom, clearly being upset and stressed out over this while Rinne quickly followed her close friend. Mei being left to hear the door to her elder daughter's bedroom slam shut behind her, causing her to look a little unsure of how to react as she thought to herself for a moment before she turned to her blonde wife, with a bit of a wondering expression forming on her face.

"You don't think I really 'spoil' Yui all that much...right Yuzu?" having a bit of an anxious tone to her voice, Mei hoped Yuzu would just shake her head and tell her that, 'Maiya only said that because she was mad, and didn't mean anything by it really'. However that not being how the blonde responded to her as she gave Mei a nervous look, while she turned away from her a little.

"Well...you have to admit Mei, you do come to her rescue a lot, and it's really no secret that she often abuses the power she has over Maiya-chan, when it comes to you defending her during their arguments. In truth I sometimes think she has you wrapped around her little finger," The blonde explaining with a nervous shrug of her shoulders, hoping that she didn't say anything 'wrong' at all, as it seemed she had caused Mei to go silent and think to herself for a few moments. Looking lost in thought as she went over what both Maiya and Yuzu had just said to her, before she eventually sighed and ran a hand through her long black hair, finally realising just where she had been going wrong with her two daughters, and knowing what she would have to do to repair the damage that had been done to Maiya by not only Yui, but also by her own actions as well.

Nodding to herself Mei leaned back down to be at her younger daughter's eye-level, catching the fair haired preteen's attention while Yuzu smiled and talked Misaka into going to watch T.V with her for a bit, so that Mei could talk with Yui alone. The dark haired Mother just sighing deeply as she lowered her tone now and made sure to sound more serious, so that Yui would realise that she couldn't just charm her way out of this conservation, like she often would with Mei.

"I'm sorry Yui but Maiya says that you can't wear her t-shirt, so you have to give it back to her, and also apologise to her for taking her clothes without asking first," speaking in quite the authoritative tone, letting the preteen know that she wasn't going to back down and let her get her own way this time, while causing her younger daughter to pout and look upset with her Mother, which was definitely something Mei wasn't used to seeing.

But knowing she had to just push through it and not let her younger daughter play her anymore, like she had so many other times before now, cutting Yui off a moment later as she tried to protest in her little innocent tone, Mei however not caving at all as she had to turn away a bit as to not get dragged into the preteen's sad expression currently being worn on her face.

"But Mama-

"No buts, you know it's not nice to take other people's things, and using me against your sister is something you should never do. Now go and say you're sorry to Maiya," her voice being stern as she pointed in the direction of where Maiya's bedroom was, giving the preteen a warning stare so that she wouldn't try protesting again, as she looked a bit mad and stared her Mother down for a moment, before she just looked away from Mei and reluctantly agreed to do as she was told.

Clearly not wanting to make her Mother mad with her at all, the fair haired girl just nodding her head slowly in response, "Okay," she replied in a low tone, causing Mei to just smile and sigh slightly, resting a hand on her younger daughter's shoulder and praised her when she looked back to her.

"I'm really proud of you Yui,"

She stated as she stroked her younger daughter's fair hair, causing her to form a small smile on her lips back to her Mother, before she soon turned and ran off to go and make her way to her elder sister's bedroom so that she could apologise to her, leaving Mei to stand back up straight and watching Yui run off into the hallway.

"I think I'm more proud of you than Yui, Mei. I know that must have been hard for you,"

Yuzu said as she caught Mei's attention, having left Misaka to watch the T.V by herself for a moment as she walked up to her wife and hugging her from behind, causing her to relax in her caring embrace and hold on to the blonde's hand, feeling her squeezing tightly while she still kept her gaze focused in the direction that young Yui had just gone rushing off in.

"It certainly was harder than I ever imagined it would be to see her get upset like that, and knowing that I couldn't just cave and hug her like I have in the past...it really killed me," the dark haired Mother thinking out loud as it was clear that she knew this had been something she had to do, otherwise Yui would likely just keep using her against her elder sister, which definitely wasn't something Mei wanted her younger daughter to continue doing while thinking it was fine to do so, when it certainly wasn't. Mei only hoping that Yui actually would do as she had been told and would apologise to Maiya, so that their tense relationship could maybe finally start improving now.

...

Yui knocking lightly on the wooden door as she entered her older sister's bedroom, seeing Maiya and Rinne sitting on the bed together, while she came walking up to them both. Causing the dark haired teen to glare to her upon seeing her come walking into her room, clearly being angry at her still, as she was ready to give the preteen a good scolding since she guessed their 'Mama' hadn't, but got cut off by the fair haired girl before she could finish.

"What do you want? I've already told to stay out of my room-

"I know but...Mama told me to say sorry to you, so I'm sorry for taking your t-shirt without asking you first," the younger girl stated in a voice that actually sounded like she was trying to be genuine about this, rather than just putting it on like Maiya had expected her to, seeming that she wouldn't want to make her beloved Mama mad at her ever again. Causing the teen to look surprised as she glanced over to Rinne, while the redhead just shrugged her shoulders slightly as she seemed to be equally taken aback at the moment by the preteen's apology.

"You can have it back, and I won't take your clothes anymore, I promise,"

The fair haired preteen added as she showed that she had taken off her older sister's t-shirt, handing it back to her now as she caused Maiya to look at the t-shirt for a moment, and think to herself before she just smiled slightly to her younger sister, seeing that Yui really was trying to make up for what she had done to her and show her she was sorry about it all.

Smiling to her little sister a moment later as she now had a much kinder tone in her voice, rather than the anger-filled one she had a couple of moments ago, "Hey you really must like my clothes right?" she asked as she caused Yui to just nod to her in reply, it seeming like she was right in her thinking, guessing that a bit of 'fashion jealously' could only really be the reason for her sister stealing and wanting to wear her clothes so many times, besides she just doing it to annoy her in some way.

"Then how about I take you out on a little shopping trip and we can pick out some clothes together? We can even bring Misa-chan and Rinne along with us," Maiya suggested to the preteen as she caused her to widen her eyes and look excited, glancing to the redheaded teen and smiling brightly when she saw Rinne just nod back to her in reply with a reassuring smile.

"Yeah!"

Cheering happily Yui nodded her head quickly, and looked back to her elder sister as she just patted her head lightly and winked to her, before she picked her up and sat her down on the space beside her on the bed, while Yui just hugged her a moment later and was glad to feel Maiya hug her back soon enough.

Their dark haired Mother showing up at the door a few moments later, as she leaned against the doorframe and smiled to her two hugging daughters, seeing that they had obviously worked things out between them and was glad to see them not arguing with each other for once, "So did Yui apologise to you Maiya?" she asked as she caught the attention of the other three and caused her older daughter to just nod to her in reply, while Mei walked into the room and glanced over to Rinne now.

"That's good, Rinne-san would you mind giving me a minute alone with my daughters?"

"Sure thing, 'Mama Mei –san', I'll be in the lounge if you need me at all,"

The redhead simply replied with a smirk, as she made a 'finger gun' gesture to her friend's Mother, before she left out the door and went to go and join Yuzu and Misaka back in the lounge, while they all watched T.V together as they waited for Mei, Maiya and Yui to come and join them as well. Mei just rolling her eyes slightly once Rinne had left, before she then came to sit between her two daughters on Maiya's bed, sighing deeply as she soon began to apologise to her elder daughter, while both Yui and Maiya looked back to her with wondering expressions.

"I suppose I also owe you an apology Maiya, I know I have been spoiling Yui over the years, but...that was only because while you always reminded me so much of Yuzu, she reminds me a lot of how I was when I was younger. Quiet, a bit hard to talk to at times, finds it tough to make friends...so I thought if I showered her in enough love and care she hopefully wouldn't grow up to be a cold person like how I used to be before meeting Yuzu...but that obviously backfired for both you and me, I'm sorry Maiya," explaining in a low tone, Mei looked truly ashamed of herself for not realising what her actions were doing to her elder daughter sooner, causing the teen to at first not know how to react. Before she just smiled and shrugged her shoulders to her birth Mother simply, showing her that she forgave her.

"It's okay Mama,"

However Mei just shaking her head in response, "No it's not 'okay', I want you to know that I really do mean it when I say I love you both equally, and please don't ever think that I love you any less than Yui, or that I favour her over you at all because that's not true, alright?" she added as she caused Maiya to just smile back to her again and nod, before their 'Mama' just wrapped an arm around them both and cuddled the two close to her, while Yui and Maiya just hugged her back and nuzzled into their dark haired Mother happily.

"I love you two...so much," Mei whispered as she kissed her two precious daughters on their foreheads, causing them both to chuckle slightly in response and just smile brightly to their Mother a moment later.

"We love you too, Mama!"

They replied in unison as they caused Mei to just smile back to them both, feeling slight tears welling up in her eyes, while the three of them stayed embracing each other tightly for a little while longer. All of them sharing this happy moment together as Maiya no longer thought of Yui as Mei's 'favourite', and the relationship between the two sisters would hopefully start to get better from here, since Yui wasn't going to be using their Mother against Maiya to get her own way anymore.

Yuzu eventually going to check on her wife and daughters, as well as to come and tell them all to join her and their daughter's friends in the lounge, but once she got there she simply just smiling to the three all hugging one another happily as she soon was invited into the embrace, while they all shared this loving moment together as the precious little family that they were all grateful to be a part of.

**...**

**Hope you all enjoyed the fouth one-shot in this sequel series and the next one-shot should be up in about two weeks from now just you know. **

**Thank you all for reading by the way. ^_^ **

**Killerchainsaw ;) **


	5. A Friend Like No Other

**Author's Notes: **

**I don't own Citrus or any of its characters, no copyright is intended.**

**This story is set after the events of another called 'Whatever The Future May Bring', so please go and read that story before reading this one so that you will be caught up on everything that has happened so far.**

_Italics - Means the person is thinking._

**Summary for one-shot:**

******Written from the POV of Maiya (she calls Yuzu 'Mom' and Mei 'Mama' just so you all know). ******

Set a couple of weeks after the previous one-shot, Maiya is preparing for her upcoming exams along with her best friend Rinne while in the meantime Yui wonders since her elder sister is so different from Rinne how the two teens are such close friends and soon finds out just how Maiya and Rinne met and became the good friends that they are now.

**This story contains 'Science babies', don't question it, just enjoy it. ^_^**

**Warning: This contains yuri (girl x girl) pairings, don't like? Don't read simple otherwise enjoy. ;)  
**

**...**

'_Another day...another headache coming on,' _

I sighed to myself as I sat at the dining table, resting my closed fist against my cheek as I was watching the ripples lap over each other in my half-eaten cereal, while I slowly stirred it and would occasionally glance to look up from my breakfast to my two Mothers and younger sister, watching the three of them engaging in everyday chatter with one another. I would normally be joining in on their mundane conversation that would often happen every morning, but my mind honestly felt so full right now that I didn't really want to say anything at all, and instead just gave my aching head a break from having to think for a bit.

However this moment of silence I was giving to myself didn't last for much longer, as these few moments never do when it comes to me and my family. It only taking a couple of minutes before I hear Mom call to me and catch my attention, pulling me out of my own thoughts while it's likely that she and Mama are wondering why I'm not speaking, since the only time that I don't make any effort to partake in a conversation is either when I'm not feeling well, or when I've had another heated argument with Yui and would rather just avoid talking with her as much as possible.

"Maiya-chan?"

"...Y-yeah Mom?"

"You've hardly spoken a word since you got up, are you feeling okay?"

She asked causing me to focus my attention on her rather than all the things that were going on inside my head at the moment, looking over to my two Mothers I could see they were clearly concerned for me, as I just gave a nervous smile to them both and shook my head, pushing my spinning thoughts to the back of my mind for now.

"I'm fine Mom..." my voice came out in a low tone, not wanting to worry them at all as I paused and hesitated a little, before just shrugging my shoulders slightly in response, "It's nothing really, I think all the studying I've been throwing myself into lately is just getting to me," explaining with a more reassuring look to my Mothers as they both seemed to understand just what was causing me such grief, while the two of them just gave me understanding smiles in return.

Mom nodding back to me, while I could see Mama was a little more sceptical about what I had said, as it was always almost impossible to try and get anything past her. Seeing her glancing to Mom with a worried expression still, causing Mom to just give her an encouraging smile and rest a comforting hand on her shoulder, as it was obvious that she didn't want Mama to worry either.

"I'm glad that you are focusing on your studies Maiya, but be sure not to overwork yourself too much...okay?" Mama clearly still being concerned for me, causing me to simply nod to her and give her more of a confident smile, knowing to take her words of advice into mind as I knew I had been spending a lot of my time studying, and preparing for the exams I had coming up before our summer break would soon be here. Reassuring Mama with another one of my bright smiles, as I also thought how important it was for me to take breaks here and there, when I needed them and to not push myself too much at all.

Seeing Mama just nodding back to me with a small smile, before Mom caught her attention by kissing her cheek lightly and giving her a reassuring smile of her own, while I looked back to my unfinished cereal as I really didn't feel like eating the rest of it, since it had gone all soggy now from me leaving it to just float around in the milk for the time being. It certainly not looking all that appetizing to me anymore and so I just let another sigh escape my lips, standing up from my chair a moment later as I took my cereal bowl into the kitchen, dumping the rest of it down the sink and leaving the bowl there to be washed along with all the other dirty dishes from this morning.

"What's an exam?"

I heard Yui's little innocent voice ask, it being clear that she had been listening in curiously on the conversation I had just had with our two Mothers, it being no surprise that she didn't really know what we were talking about, she's still only in elementary school after all.

"It's like a big test that you have to study really hard for, you'll have them someday when you go into middle school," I explained to my little sister as I turned my attention on to her, seeing her looking to me with a wondering expression before she soon just smiled and nodded back to me, it seeming like she understood the topic better. However it being obvious that she didn't really have much of an interest in it at all, which is what I was expecting from her really, she was still young and didn't yet know about the difficult side of school that would soon probably become clear to her once she left elementary school which was a good while from now.

"Is Rinne-san coming over again today?"

Mom caught my attention as I just nodded back to her, while both she and I caught sight of the slight eye-roll that Mama made when hearing about Rinne coming over again. It's not like she didn't like Rinne really, she just doesn't like it when she raids the fridge of all our food and drinks, which she often does when she comes round here for more than a couple of hours.

"She's coming round later to study, since I know she most likely won't do it otherwise. But I'll get her to just stay in my room, so she shouldn't be that much trouble for you and Mama at all," I just chuckled nervously, knowing full well just how much of a handful Rinne can be a lot of the time, but by now both Mom and Mama have pretty much gotten used to having her round here, she's around here more than she is her own home after all. My Mothers just like for me to warn them that she's coming before she gets here, so at least they'll know to expect her showing up at our door, like she does on a daily basis.

Yui causing me to look back to her a moment later as I heard her calling to me, while that innocent and curious tone was in her voice again, "Sis, how come Rinne-san comes over here so much?" That not being all that much of an unexpected question really, I mean compared to Misaka who is Yui's best friend and often comes round here too, Rinne is definitely the one who spends much more of her time at our house really. Whether it's to actually hang out with me, or to get away from her 'boring home-life' as she calls it, I don't really know to be honest.

"Rinne's parents work a lot and often leave her at home alone, so I think she's just lonely really. Plus it's not like she's got any other friends besides me that she can hang out with," I simply explained with a shrug of my shoulders, which may not have been the best way to answer Yui's question really, as it only caused her to seem more confused, which I felt like I should have considered since it's not all that easy to understand Rinne for who she really is, unless you know her as well as I do...which no one but me really does.

"What do you mean? Does she find it hard to make friends like I do sometimes?"

Giving me that curious look it seemed like Yui wanted to understand just what I had said, but then it wasn't as simple as that...Rinne wasn't as simple as that. Just waving my hand in reply to my little sister I thought it would better to get her to drop the subject instead, since I knew there most likely wasn't going to be a way I could explain this to Yui without confusing her further, so for now I just agreed with her.

"Yeah...something like that, anyway she'll probably be here soon, so I better go and get all my study material ready," I stated as I just kind of wanted to get out of this situation, so that Yui wouldn't keep asking me questions about Rinne anymore. Yui herself not really seeming satisfied with my reply, but just shrugging her shoulders after a few minutes of thinking to herself, before she finished off her glass of orange juice and soon focused her attention back on talking with our Mothers, springing up another cheerful conversation with them both which I was quite thankful for.

Both Mom and Mama wishing me 'Good luck' and again reminding me to not overwork myself before I simply nodded back to them, and left to head for the hallway, leaving the three to go back to their casual conversation while I got all of my textbooks from school laid out on my bedroom floor, setting everything up ready for when Rinne would be coming round. Although I doubted we would get all that much actual studying done, as was normally the case with that often lazy, redheaded friend of mine.

...

It...like always not being long before Rinne showed up at the door and we were both in my bedroom, sitting on my bed amongst all the school textbooks and notes we were meant to be studying for our upcoming exams, Rinne already having stolen a few snacks from the fridge and it was clear to see she wasn't really interested in studying all that much.

I was trying to focus on all the notes we had gotten from past lessons as these exams were ones I certainly didn't want to end up failing, however my concentration didn't last long as it was soon interrupted by the sound of Rinne drumming her pencil against one of my textbooks, it clearly seeming like she was more interested in humming to herself rather than even trying to study at the moment.

"You know we're meant to be studying right now,"

I spoke up, thankfully causing her to stop the annoying drumming that was starting to get on my nerves, as she just shrugged her shoulders slightly and leaned back against the wall. Although it's not like I expected this to be any different since this is just how Rinne is really, she has never cared for school much so avoiding studying, not paying much attention in classes and hardly ever giving her homework in on time, are all the things she tends to do instead.

"I'm taking a break,"

Was her simple reply as she soon went back to drumming her pencil against my textbook again, causing my headache to slowly come back, before I sighed and took my attention off the notes in front of me for a moment, knowing I likely wouldn't get much studying done if that irritating drumming continued for much longer.

"Taking a break from what? You haven't even started studying yet,"

"That's not true, I been studying since the moment I got here," she answered back with a dramatic gasp that caused me to roll my eyes at her in response, acted like I had accused her of something she hadn't done as she rested a hand over her chest, pretending she was hurt from my words. Milking the act of her's out longer as she could see me just raise my eyebrow back to her, "You don't believe me? Come on then quiz me, I dare you,"

She leaned forward as she propped herself up on her elbow, smirking to me and having a sly look behind those dark brown eyes of her's, that made it clear she was really only trying to distract me from studying as was normally the case with her. However I wasn't going to fall for her 'little games' and play along as instead I just looked away from her, focusing my attention back on to my notes as I just chose to ignore her for the moment, although I knew she was never one to just stop there once I had brushed her off.

"Nah you're alright, just stop with all the drumming,"

"Aww come on Mai-chan, I know you aren't the 'all work and no fun' kind. You could probably use a break too right?" she asked with a few bats of her eyelashes, giving me a hopeful expression that I had seen all too often, although it was true I had been studying for a while since Rinne got here, I didn't want to stop and take a break just yet. After all I knew if I let her talk me into stopping here, it was very likely that we wouldn't be going back to studying for some time, and I would rather not waste hours talking with Rinne, when we were both meant to be preparing for our exams together.

I was just about to shake my head and deny Rinne's suggestion as I wanted to make it clear to her that I'd rather not waste any more time, however before I could we both heard a small knock at my bedroom door, causing me to take my attention off of the smirking redhead sitting beside me and instead calling out to the person at my door, seeing my younger sister pop her head around the door a moment later.

"Hey sis..."

"What is it Yui, do you need something?" I looked to my fair haired little sister, as she was giving me a bit of a nervous gaze for some reason right now, while she slowly opened the door and walked into my room, shifting her lavender eyes from me to the floor and causing me to just give her a wondering expression.

"Not really...I know you two are studying right now, but...I was just wondering if I could ask you something...it won't take long..." trailing off slightly in quite the hesitant tone, it being obvious that she had something on her mind at the moment, but making it clear that she didn't want to disturb us from our studying.

Rinne of course just smiling to Yui as it was easy to see she didn't mind being distracted from what we were meant to be doing right now, smirking to me and nudging me to answer my sister with a 'Yes' most likely, seeming to be still trying to talk me into taking a break and causing me to just give out a heavy sigh, as I didn't want to give Rinne the satisfaction of getting me to do what she wanted. But I had been studying for a little while already, and I also did want to know just what Yui was going to ask me about, so I caved much to the delight of Rinne, who was now patting the bed for Yui to come and sit in-between us.

"Fine, what did you want to ask me?"

Giving my sister a smile as she perked up at me agreeing to talk with her and didn't seem to be as nervous anymore, closing the door behind her and coming to sit between me and Rinne on my bed, she looked up to me a moment later, while Rinne just happily put the textbooks that were in front of her to the side and out of the way. It being clear that she would much rather listen to Yui than continue with studying, as I figured we could talk for a little bit, just as long as we didn't spend too long before going back to what Rinne and I were supposed to be doing at the moment.

"Okay so I know this question might seem a bit sudden and all but...if you don't mind me asking, I've just been wondering how you two ever became friends," she was right that question was quite the 'out of the blue' one and certainly one I wasn't expecting her to ask at all, as I just glanced to Rinne and saw her look just as curious as I most likely did right now, she just shrugging her shoulders back to me, while I gave Yui a confused expression in response.

"You mean Rinne and me, why would you be wondering about that?"

I asked as it was likely obvious to Yui that I didn't really get where she was going with asking me this question at the moment, but by the looks of things it seemed like what I had told her this morning about Rinne had stuck with her and made her think more, while she just gazed back up to me with a clearly interested look, definitely wanting to know more about the friendship Rinne and I shared for some reason.

"Well it's just that, you two seem so different from each other and yet you're so close. You're always together and you even said this morning that Rinne-san finds it hard to make friends like me, so why did she decide to be friends with you, sis?" her questions were striking me a little as I hadn't really expected her to be so interested in the topic, when we talked about it this morning shortly after breakfast. Going silent slightly I glanced over to Rinne again wondering if she would have anything to say to this, but it seemed like she was at a bit of a loss for words about just how to answer my younger sister as I very well felt the same as her.

While I get it that Rinne and I do seem to have quite the unlikely friendship, especially since we spend so much time together anyone would think that we would eventually get sick of each other, and although it may be true that Rinne definitely does get on my nerves sometimes, she's still my most closest friend and we've never really had an argument at all. However just like this morning I wasn't too sure just how I would explain why me and Rinne were such good friends to Yui, and how we had come to be as such, as I thought to myself for a little while.

Rinne seeming to be faced with the same dilemma as me, as she didn't seem to know how to answer my sister, while Yui just sat glancing between the both of us and waiting patiently for a reply of any sort from either of us. It's not hard to see why she would be curious about this since her and Misaka share a lot of interests so it makes sense that they are good friends, but when it comes to me and Rinne we really don't have that much in common at all, and yet I would consider her as my 'best friend', she wasn't my only friend I did have others, however I wouldn't ever hang out with them as much as I do with Rinne.

I guess our friendship would seem weird to other people, but that didn't make it any easier for me to try to explain to Yui especially in a way that she would understand it since she was still quite young and all, luckily however it didn't take me too long to come up with an idea, although I wasn't really sure if it would actually answer the questions that Yui had asked of me.

"It's not all that easy to explain, but I could tell you about how Rinne and I met and became friends...I guess, but I'm not sure if that will give you the answers that you're looking for to be honest though," I suggested knowing it wasn't much of a good idea, but it was all I could think of that might just work, Yui seeming fine with it whether it would give her the answers she was looking for or not, it seeming like the story of how Rinne and I met was one that she wanted to hear about nonetheless.

Simply nodding her head and smiling to me as it was obvious that she wanted me to continue and tell her just how I met Rinne and became friends with her, while Rinne herself just sat back against the wall again, giving me another slight smirk as she was just glad that I was being distracting from studying, which is exactly what she was trying to do before so it was no wonder really that she was happy about this sudden development happening.

"Well it's a little bit of a long story, but I'll try and keep it short for the most part," I stated as Yui just nodded back to me, seeming like she was eagerly waiting for me to start telling her all about how Rinne and I met, going back in my mind to that time as even though it was a couple of years back and I can't speak for Rinne, but I can still remember it somehow like it was only a few days ago.

...

_-Flashback-_

I remember it well...almost like a memory that I could never really forget, it was during elementary school that Rinne came into my life, she had transferred in around the summertime when I was about ten years old and as was the norm pretty much everyone else in our class would crowd around her, wanting to get to know her just like they often did with every new transfer student that joined our class.

However it seeming like Rinne didn't like all the attention and just wasn't all that interested in making friends with anyone at all, it becoming clear to me that Rinne would much rather be by herself, and because of her coldness she would have towards practically anyone who would try to strike up a conversation with her, or ask her questions everyone would mostly just avoid speaking to her after a while.

Eventually she had been able to drive a lot of people away from her, which I'm not sure if she was actually glad about or not really, rather than wanting anyone to talk with it seemed like Rinne was just happy to keep to herself most of the time, however there were times when I would glance over to her and see something else in those dark brown eyes of her's.

"Hey Maiya-chan, some of the girls are saying that we're getting another new transfer student soon, what do you think they'll be like?" one of my classmates asked me before lessons had started as she caught my attention and pulled me out of my thoughts, I simply just shrugged while I sat at my desk and looked back to the young girl standing in front of me, but still I would glance over to Rinne and watch her, as for some reason I felt like I was drawn to her.

"I hope they won't be like that other new girl, she's always so cold to everyone," I heard another classmate of mine say as the first one just agreed with her and nodded, as it seemed like a lot of the girls were like this, talking behind Rinne's back as they all clearly thought of her as 'a strange person' that they should just stay away from, even though Rinne had only been here for maybe about a month or so at the time.

But...she didn't seem like that to me. Sure she seemed lazy and obviously didn't have that much interest in school really, and although she was cold to others there was something else that struck me about her that I just couldn't put my finger on at first, she was like no other person I had met before and I guess because of that I became more interested in her, and wanted to learn more about her.

"Maybe she's just shy,"

I thought out loud as I glanced to the other two girls standing beside my desk, having a bit of a nervous expression on my face as I wasn't sure how they would react, but luckily enough for me they just brushed off my suggestion and didn't seem like they were all that bothered by what I had said, making their own assumption of Rinne a moment later.

"More like 'scary' I'd say,"

The second girl stated as she caused the first one to chuckle slightly and nod her head back to her in response, while both of their voices became faint background noise to me now, looking over to Rinne again as I saw her just propping herself up on her elbow and gazing to the front of the class with a blank expression as normal, before our teacher soon walked into the classroom so that we could start the lesson. Rinne not moving an inch as she just stared right through the teacher, pretending like they weren't even there at all.

Even if did often observe Rinne from a far, I never actually talked to her until one day when it was around lunch time and I saw her leaving the classroom rather quickly, probably to get away from everyone else and not have anyone come over to her, I would normally just eat my lunch in the classroom along with the few friends that I had back then but for some reason I felt compelled to go and follow Rinne that day.

So I left the classroom, just following what my instincts were telling me to do as I went after Rinne and stopped when I saw her sitting down on the top staircase of the third floor, she most likely haven chosen this place because hardly anyone else came by here, it being a place for her to get away from all the judging eyes of our classmates it seemed.

I don't think she had noticed me just yet and even if she had, it was clear she was just ignoring me at this point, not taking any notice when I came to sit down beside her on the top of the staircase, "Do you mind me sitting here?" I asked after a short pause, as I looked to her with a nervous gaze, she hadn't yet started eating her lunch, but I can understand that she must have felt uncomfortable with me suddenly coming to sit right next to her; I was pretty much a complete stranger to her after all.

"No...it's fine...just don't ask me any questions alright," she also seeming to be a little nervous around me, as she avoided looking at me directly and it was expected that she asked me something like that, since she was likely fed up with all the other girls in our class constantly asking her questions as they often did to all the new transfer students.

"Okay,"

I simply nodded with a shrug of my shoulders as I just let a silence fall on us, while I opened my backpack and took out my lunchbox, guessing I might as well start eating my lunch now that I had actually gotten this far. We didn't speak for a good while, just sitting in silence and I guess it surprised her since no one had really just sat next to her, without wanting to start some kind of conversation with her when she just wasn't interested in it at all obviously.

"You're the daughter of the headmistress of that famous high school around here...right?"

I wasn't really expecting her to say anything at all, but I guess she wanted to fill the awkward silence between us, and it was a bit of a surprising question that she had asked me, although I guessed she had likely heard the other girls in our class talk about me. I didn't mind it really though since I was actually kind of relieved that she had decided to talk to me after all.

"Yeah...that's me, I'm Maiya Okogi Aihara," I simply nodded back to her, as she seemed to hesitate in response a little before she now finally looked to me, actually giving me eye-contact for the first time since I had come to sit next to her.

"My name's Rinne Takagami," she still had a bit of a nervous tone to her voice, but honestly I was just glad that she was actually talking to me, as I just let a kind smile form on my lips in return.

"It's nice to meet you Takagami-san,"

"Err...please just, 'Rinne' is fine, and you too I guess," that nervous tone of her's was slowly fading which I was glad about, as I could see she was clearly becoming more relaxed now and wasn't putting up her guard as much anymore, it seeming like she wasn't one for formalities but then neither was I really.

"Then just call me, 'Maiya' in return, alright Rinne?" she just nodded to me in reply, as she seemed happy enough to call me by my first name, me not knowing at the time that it would soon change to her calling me 'Mai-chan' all the time, but more than anything I guess I just got used to her calling me as such and never really minded it much, although I still call her 'Rinne' just like I always have.

From there we went into another awkward silence as we were still a bit anxious around each other it would seem, but luckily this one didn't last as long as the previous one did, my attention being caught by Rinne yet again as I heard her ask me another question, this one again I didn't expect but it definitely being one that was more relevant to the situation right now.

"Why did you come and sit next to me like this?" it was a simple enough question I guess, but it took me a few good minutes to think it over before I just shrugged my shoulders and rested a caring hand over her's, smiling to her a moment later while she just looked taken aback by both my reply and actions it seemed.

"Because...you looked like you could use some company,"

Was all I said as I did want to say more as an answer, but I decided I didn't really need to as Rinne looked surprised enough by my simple reply, _'In fact that's how you always look really,' _I thought inside my mind, realising now just what I had been seeing in this girl all along, it's not that she didn't want friends or anything, it was just that she didn't like it when people were fussing over her so much. Actually now that I think about it all, back then she seemed like such a lonely young girl to me.

"Thanks...I guess," she glanced away from me as she seemed to have recovered from her surprise, while I just nodded to her and caused her to look back to me a moment later, gesturing to my lunchbox with one finger.

"You wanna eat lunch together?"

I asked as Rinne soon just turned back to me and nodded slowly, as I just smiled brightly to her and caused her to form a small smile of her own on her lips, I had never seen her smile up until that point and I doubt anyone else in the school had, so from that moment on I decided that I wanted to see more of her smile and keep learning more about her. From there Rinne sure has changed a lot, she's not the same cold and reserved girl as she once was before, but still even though she does talk to other people besides me in school now, it's obvious that I'm the only one she considers as 'her friend'.

...

"And we've been friends ever since," Rinne finished off my story for me as she smirked to me slightly, before looking back to my little sister once I had just folded my arms to her.

"And you're still always trying to steal the food out of my lunchbox, just like you did a couple of days after we met," I stated with my own smirk to Rinne as she just smiled nervously back to me, making me wonder if she just didn't eat when she was at her own home, I mean Rinne has always been rather thin but I wouldn't call her dangerously underweight or anything, I guess she must just feel more comfortable to eat more food around me since we're so close.

"So does that answer your questions?" I asked as I turned my attention back on to Yui, she just looking back up to me with a thoughtful expression, not answering at first as she seemed to be thinking over everything that I had told her, before she soon just nodded with a smile in reply to me.

"I think so, thanks for telling me that sis it was actually a really sweet story. I can see why you two are so close now," she replied as she simply just jumped down from my bed and headed towards the door, "I'll leave you both to your studies, and sorry for interrupting you," she soon left with a wave, however I knew what was coming afterwards and it definitely wasn't Rinne and me getting back to studying, instead just like I expected Rinne got off my bed and headed for the door as well.

"Well I think all that story telling has made me hungry, you want anything Mai-chan?"

She turned back to me for a second, as I just shook my head to her and watched as she just gave me a 'finger-gun' gesture with one hand, winking to me before she left out the door and I just rolled my eyes to my best friend, and although I figured we likely wouldn't get anymore studying done from here I didn't mind it all that much. After all when I think about it and I'm not sure if I would ever tell Rinne about this, but...I'm really glad I met and became such good friends with someone like her.

I simply sighed a moment later as I flipped through one of my textbooks and decided I would try and just get a little more studying done while I waited for Rinne to come back, after all I already knew that that redheaded friend of mine would most likely keep distracting me from what we were supposed to be doing like always once she got back...but then I guess I wouldn't want to have Rinne be any different from the 'one of a kind' girl I've always known her as.

**...**

**Hope you all enjoyed the fifth one-shot in this sequel series and the next one-shot should be up in about two weeks from now just you know. **

**Thank you all for reading by the way. ^_^ **

**Killerchainsaw ;) **


	6. The Best Mistake Our Mama Ever Made

**Author's Notes: **

**I don't own Citrus or any of its characters, no copyright is intended.**

**This story is set after the events of another called 'Whatever The Future May Bring', so please go and read that story before reading this one so that you will be caught up on everything that has happened so far.**

_Italics - Means the person is thinking._

**Summary for one-shot:**

******Written from the POV of Yui (she calls Yuzu 'Mom' and Mei 'Mama', as well as calling her best friend Misaka by the nickname, 'Misa-chan' just so you all know). ******

Set about a couple of weeks after the previous one-shot, Yui is feeling frustrated over the fact that her and her elder sister still fight over such small things, even though their arguments are less frequet then they used to be, she still doesn't get why Maiya always seems to make a big deal out of nothing, and can never just 'let anything go' as she says. However while ranting about all this to her best friend Misaka, the younger girl brings up a question about Yui's sister that makes the fair haired girl think and have her own questions about the whole ordeal, but are these questions really on the right track to find out why Yui and her sister fight so much, or is Yui just overthinking it all a bit too much?

**This story contains 'Science babies', don't question it, just enjoy it. ^_^**

**Warning: This contains yuri (girl x girl) pairings, don't like? Don't read simple otherwise enjoy. ;)  
**

**...**

'_Does she really have to be such a pain sometimes?'_

That's all I was thinking to myself as I stomped along my way to the school gates, clenching my fists tightly and biting on my bottom lip, as I could still feel the frustration boiling up inside of me at the moment, having just had another tiresome argument with my elder sister over nothing really while we were both on our way to our respected schools this morning. Truthfully I actually thought we were doing better since we weren't having arguments as frequently as we used to anymore, but there were still times like this morning where I had 'apparently' done something to annoy her, and...like always she just can't let a single thing go, no matter how small it may be she always has to make this big deal out of it all.

I sighed deeply feeling relieved that I could spend some time away from my sister and not have to deal with her for a while, as we were both at school for now, the two of us having already separated as I was soon approaching the school gates, tying to push all my thoughts of my bothersome sister to the back of my mind until the time came that I would have to speak with her later once we would both return home again.

Having only been away from Maiya for a few minutes and I was already feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, as I let myself relax and walked at a much calmer pace now, entering in through the big school gates and searching the crowded playground, as I did every morning until my eyes caught sight of the exact brunette that I was looking for. Making my way over to her quickly as I saw her sitting by herself on a wooden bench at the far left side of the playground, while I could tell she was also looking around and most likely waiting for me, just like she often is most mornings.

"Misa-chan!"

I called out to catch the attention of the younger girl, causing her to turn her head towards me, a kind smile spreading across her lips as she spotted me amongst the crowds of other children on the playground, waving to me as I quickly ran over to her and slumped down beside her once I had reached the bench she was sitting on at the moment.

"Hey, you look tired this morning. Did you not get much sleep last night or something?"

She asked as I leaned back against the backrest on the bench, guessing she could see how fed up I must have looked at the moment, even though the day had just barely started really. I just shook my head in response before I answered Misa-chan as I knew I couldn't just come up with some excuse and brush her off, she would see right through me and would eventually get me to tell her the truth anyway, although it was pretty easy to see that she could've just guessed what my reply was bound to be.

"No, I just had another argument with Maiya this morning," I stated, causing Misa-chan to just nod her head and look like she understood why I seemed so stressed out now, as this was how most of the arguments with my sister would leave me feeling.

"Oh yeah, what was it about this time?"

"Nothing really, all I did was change the channel on the T.V for a bit this morning, while she had gone to talk with Rinne-san over the phone. And when she came back into the lounge she got all mad at me out of nowhere, just because I didn't want to watch the programme she was watching before Rinne-san called her up," explaining what had happened between my elder sister and me that had eventually led us to having another one of our heated arguments this morning that Mama had to break up after a little while.

"Did you change it back to the channel Maiya-san was watching?" Misa-chan giving me a curious expression as I just shook my head and folded my arms across my chest, turning away from her slightly as what she had just said sounded very similar to what Mama had said to me, when she broke Maiya and me up from our argument this morning, deciding I would respond to her the same way that I had done to Mama earlier.

"Why should I? It's not like she was watching it anyway, she was more interested in her phone than what was on the T.V clearly, plus we were going to be leaving soon, so I didn't see why it mattered what programme we were watching at the time. But of course Maiya always wanting the last word all the time wouldn't let it just end there, and things just escalated I guess," another heavy sigh leaving my lips as I thought back to only a little while ago, when I was back at home and bickering with my elder sister about something that I thought wasn't all that much of a big deal at all, however it being a different story to Maiya it would seem for some reason.

"I mean I get that she's my big sister and all, but that shouldn't mean she can just boss me around whenever I refuse to do what she tells me to," I could feel my anger and frustration coming back again as I ranted on for a little bit longer, while Misa-chan just sat and listened to me like she always does, staying silent as she knows from experience that I'm just going on about all this to get it out of my system, and I'm not really looking for an answer or any kind of advice from her.

"You're lucky you don't have an older sister like me, Misa-chan," I finished as I did feel a little better after getting all that off my chest, running a hand through my long, fair hair as I could hear Misa-chan just chuckle slightly in response, causing me to just let a small smile form on my lips, hearing her laugh did always cheer me up after all.

"Well since my Moms argue more than you and your sister do, it's not really that much of a big question as to why they waited a while before deciding to have me. Not to mention the fact that I was an accident anyway so they might have waited even longer before deciding on whether they should have a kid or not if I hadn't have come along when I did," she simply pointed out as we both knew how bad Misa-chan Moms were for their constant arguing that was no doubt worse than mine and Maiya's.

"Yeah...with how much both of them seem to disagree on so many things, it's no surprise that they decided to not have another child after you were born," I gave my own slight chuckle as although Maiya and me did argue quite a bit, we were nowhere near as bad as Misa-chan's Moms, but then again even if they did bicker a lot, they still somehow had managed to stay together for this long and would always find a way to work through their differences, whatever they might be.

"Well they do agree on some things, and they get along great...most of the time, plus Mama Haru always says 'It was because of me that they don't fight as much as they used to,' so I think I must have strengthened their bond somehow when Mama Matsu became pregnant with me," I think I got where Misa-chan was coming from, and just nodded to her in response showing her that I understood, while she just smiled back to me in return.

"I guess Maiya must have done the same when she was born, since both Mama and Mom have told me before now that she came along quite suddenly, back when they had both just recently finished high school," I was just thinking out loud at this point really, as I was kind of glad this conversation had distracted me from talking about the heated argument that my sister and I had gotten into earlier, which I was thankful for at least, however it soon seeming that what I said had caught Misa-chan's attention. As she looked back to me and had slightly widened those bright blue eyes of her's, as it was easy to tell she was more interested in the current subject than she was a few moments ago.

"That's right; Maiya-san was an accident just like I was..."

She paused for a couple of minutes as she seemed to be thinking to herself, while I just waited for her to continue as it looked like she had certainly realised something or other just from what I had said, "Hey do you ever think that your sister could be jealous of you, because you were planned and she wasn't?" that was a bit of a weird question and it definitely being one I wasn't expecting Misa-chan to ask me at all, and it did cause me to look somewhat confused back to her.

"Jealous?"

"Yeah well unlike Maiya-san your Mothers had both decided they wanted to have another kid when you came along, you weren't as much of a surprise as your sister was to them and they were most likely able to prepare for you better. Maybe because of that Maiya-san is jealous of you and that might be why she 'always has to have the last word' as you say when you two argue. Maybe she even wishes she was planned like you were," Misa-chan explained to me as although I will admit a lot of what she was saying wasn't really making all that much sense to me, it was causing me to think a bit, as I just continued to look puzzled back to Misa-chan and stay silent, not really being sure as to how I should reply to her right now.

"What exactly are you trying to suggest with saying all this?" I raised my eyebrow to Misa-chan, as she just shrugged her shoulders and simply continued on with what she was saying, while I was starting to grasp the meaning behind her words a little better I believe.

"I'm not trying to 'suggest' anything, but...just think of it like this, when Yuzu-san became pregnant with you her and Mei-san really wanted you, and maybe Maiya wanted it to be the same for her. After all she has called you 'the favourite' in the past, so maybe that could actually be what she wants to be to your Mothers instead," she added with a slight smile to me, as I did think that maybe Misa-chan was just over thinking all this a bit too much, but then again...I guess it wasn't impossible for what she was saying to have at least some truth to it in a way.

"Do you really think Maiya could want to be Mama and Mom's 'favourite'...?"

Thinking about it was kinda clear that I might have been asking that question more to myself than to Misa-chan at the moment, as it was obvious to see that this topic was causing me to think more and more, however Misa-chan soon just shrugging her shoulders again just as the school bell started to ring loudly and pull me out of my thoughts.

"Well I could be totally wrong about it all, it was just a thought I had that I decided to share with you as all," she simply just replied to me before she soon distracted me with changing the subject, while we both stood up from the wooden bench and started to walk towards the school building, separating from each other and making our way to our own classrooms, having already agreed to meet up at break time as we always did every day.

While I had decided to just try and not think about all the things that Misa-chan had just said to me, as I did keep trying to push all that she had said to the back of my mind and try to focus on my lesson. But as time went on I would find myself beginning to think about the question that Misa-chan had asked me, 'do you ever think your sister could be jealous of you?' it would keep spinning around in my head, causing me to continue to think about it more.

'_Could it actually be true that Maiya was jealous of me because of what Misa-chan was saying? Is that why she would never let any of our arguments just go at all? Did she still see me as our Mama's 'favourite'? Did she want that title for herself? Did she feel resentment towards me because I was planned and she was an 'accident'? Could she be wishing that Mama and Mom had wanted her in the same way that they had wanted me?' _All these endless questions were swirling around in my mind constantly, not leaving me alone through any of my lessons it seemed, as I was still wondering just how I could answer them all when the bell for lunch time rang later in the afternoon, which in turn caused me to think about a possible solution to finding out the answers to all my questions I was looking for.

'_Maybe I should talk to Maiya about all this...would she be okay with it?' _

I wondered to myself as I guessed I would just be stuck with all these questions still, and having not the faintest idea of just how I could answer any of them. Plus I think talking to Maiya would likely be my best option really since I didn't really have any other way of knowing just how I would find out just what my sister's feelings were about all this other than simply asking her about it all. There was just the question of how she would take it all.

...

It seemed that I would maybe find that out soon enough as the rest of the school day seemed to fly by for me since my mind was so preoccupied with other thoughts, meaning that before I knew it I had returned back home from school, Misa-chan already having made her way back to her own home. While I now had just walked in through the door to hear my elder sister and Rinne-san's voices coming from the lounge, as was pretty much the norm when I came home from school, seeing the two sitting on the sofa together in front of the T.V as they chatted to each other casually, it seeming like they hadn't noticed me when I walked into the room just yet as I took a deep breath and nodded to myself as I did.

"If you can't concentrate here then go and do your homework at your own house for once," my elder sister having a cheerful tone in her voice, even though the conversation she was having with Rinne-san didn't sound all that cheery, it was clear that they were far from having an argument, and instead Maiya was just harmlessly scolding Rinne-san like she often did.

"But it's boring to just do it by myself," Rinne-san answering back in a whining tone that all of us were all too used to hearing from her by this point.

"Honestly I don't get how you are able to pass tests, since you always say exactly the same thing for when I tell you to study more," the two just continuing their conversation as it seemed like they hadn't noticed me standing there, and they still didn't until I soon cleared my throat and caught their attention now, causing both of them to stop talking to each other and instead look back to me in response.

"Hey Maiya...can I ask you something?"

I asked as I spoke in a bit of a nervous tone, going over in my head just how I was going to talk to Maiya about what Misa-chan and I had been talking about earlier in the day, while my sister just simply nodded back to me and gave me a smile, still glaring to the redhead sitting beside her on the sofa at the moment. Rinne-san just leaning back against the sofa cushions, as I could see she was kinda glad that I had come over and distracted Maiya from telling her off, so that she wouldn't have to continue to be scolded for a little bit, while I had my sister's attention for the time being.

"Sure, what's up?"

Maiya just giving me a curious gaze as I hesitated for a couple of moments, before I soon decided to stop stalling and just come out and say it to my sister, "Are you jealous of me at all?" the question definitely seeming to catch Maiya off guard, as she looked back to me a little confused, but then answered me with a slight chuckle in her voice.

"Why would I be jealous of you?" she looked to me like I had just asked her a really stupid question, but I wasn't about to just stop there and change the subject or something, this had been on my mind pretty much all day, so I knew things would stay that way if I just let this conversation get brushed off.

"Well you know because...when it comes to Mama and Mom I was wanted and you weren't, so do you resent me at all for that?" I tried going into more detail for my sister since it didn't seem like she was getting what exactly I was talking about right now, and I could see she wasn't really taking it all that seriously at the moment.

"Just what are you trying to say? Is this some sort of new way for you to bug me or something?" clearly she still wasn't getting it so I guessed I should just come out and say what I really meant, she might finally understand what I'm trying to say to her then.

"No, it's just I was planned and wanted while you were just an accident really and wasn't wanted, an unexpected surprise that Mama and Mom weren't prepared for at all, a mistake that just kinda happened if you will. I mean I assumed that maybe you were jealous of me and that's why you always have to have the last word when we argue, and you can never seem to let anything go for some reason," I explained hoping that Maiya had finally gotten what I was trying to say to her, but I kinda wished I had just kept my mouth shut and had brushed off this conversation somehow, as I saw my sister just glaring back to me and raising an eyebrow, before she stood up from the sofa and rolled her emerald eyes in reply.

"First of all I continue on our arguments, and don't 'let them go' because that would mean I would be giving into you, and I would hate the thought of you getting away with everything, especially because that's what used to happen all the time when Mama used to spoil you not too long ago," her tone was still being a calm one for now, but I could tell she was clearly angry with me at the moment, as she folded her arms across her chest and raised her voice a little when she continued on.

"And secondly...are you trying to make me mad right now?" her tone now beginning to change and it being obvious that she was getting more frustrated and angry with me, however I didn't really get why she was getting so mad at me all of a sudden, all I was doing was asking her a few questions after all, it wasn't that bad...right?

"I'm just trying to ask you a question, what are you getting so worked up for, this is exactly what I mean. You always get so angry at me when I haven't even done anything really," my voice was now beginning to raise as well as I just didn't get where all this sudden anger of Maiya's was coming from, she just stared me down and gritted her teeth, as neither of us spoke for a few moments and instead just glared at each other, while I was sure I could feel another heated argument brewing between us both.

"What is going on in here?"

We both heard Mama ask as her and Mom came walking into the lounge, as they must have heard us raising our voices at each other, however neither I nor Maiya answered at first, instead we just continued to glare at one another. But surprisingly my sister was the one to end things and not carry them on like she usually did, giving out a heavy sigh and turning away from me at moment later.

"Nothing, we're done talking about this,"

She stated in a stern tone to me as she just glared her bright, emerald eyes to me one last time before she pushed past me and left the lounge, heading into the hallway and soon slamming the door to her bedroom once she had gone in there. Leaving me to just glare in the direction she had left in, still not getting what had made her so angry with me all of a sudden.

"What was that all about Yui?" Mom asked me as she and Mama still looked awfully confused to what had just happened between Maiya and me, while I just shrugged my shoulders and sighed slightly back to them both.

"Ask Maiya, she's the one who got mad at me for practically no real reason at all," I folded my arms across my chest and rolling my eyes, before I turned away from both Mom and Mama, while I heard them talking to each other for a moment in response.

"I'll go and see to Maiya," Mama stated as Mom just nodded back to her simply, before Mama left to go and make her way to Maiya's bedroom, while Mom sighed deeply and gave me a concerned expression.

"You two already had an argument this morning, and now you've just had another one, I thought you and Maiya were trying to get along better and improve your relationship, not keep bickering like this still," Mom seemed to be thinking out loud, but definitely wanting me to hear it seemed, shaking her head and looking like she was disappointed with me and Maiya because of what had just happened between us.

"But it wasn't even an arugement really, and aren't you going to go after her as well, Rinne-san?" I asked as I turned to Rinne-san for a moment, and wondered why she was being so quiet when that was normally very unlike her, while she soon just shook her head to me and chuckled slightly in reply, causing me to look back to her with a questioning expression.

"She'll just get angry with me as well if I follow her, after all she was already scolding me earlier, so I think I'll just stay here and wait for her to cool down. You might want to go and apologise to her though, it looks like you made her pretty upset," the redhead folded her arms and gave me a slight smirk, hinting for me to go after my sister, causing me to just grit my teeth and glare slightly to Rinne-san in response.

"But I didn't do anything- I protested only to be cut off by my Mom a moment later, causing me to glance back to her and see her giving me quite the stern stare now.

"Yui, you should at least go and see if she's okay,"

She seemed to agree with Rinne-san that I should go after Maiya, as she gestured for me to go to my sister's room, giving me an understanding gaze, but also still showing that she was being serious right now. I felt like protesting further but instead I just bit my bottom lip and sighed deeply, before I just nodded to my blonde Mother, knowing that she wouldn't let me just get out of this like Mama used to, and I guess I should go and see why what I had asked had made Maiya so mad at me all of a sudden.

Leaving Rinne-san and my Mom in the lounge together as I headed for the hallway, making my way to my elder sister's bedroom and taking a deep breath once I was standing outside of Maiya's room, just nodding to myself as I was just about to knock on the wooden door that was slightly a-jar at the moment. However I stopped and widened my eyes upon hearing the angered voice of my sister talking with Mama, while she was trying to calm her down and also find out just what had happened between her and me only a few moments ago.

"She said that I was a mistake, and that you and Mom didn't want me. And then she put on that 'all innocent' act like always and pretended that she hadn't done anything at all, God I can't believe her sometimes," hearing Maiya's raised voice ranting on about me and all that I had said, _'I guess I probably could've phrased that better, maybe Maiya wouldn't be so mad if I had done so,'_ I thought to myself with a slight sigh, as I was starting to see where I had gone wrong, and realise how I had made my sister so upset, but I really didn't mean any harm by it although Maiya clearly didn't see it that way.

"Stop with all the pacing Maiya, honestly you're as bad as Yuzu. You know I doubt Yui was actually trying to make you angry by saying those things to you," I heard Mama's calm and concerned tone at a much quieter volume, as I felt thankful that she seemed to see things the way I did, although Maiya soon making it clear that her words were only angering her more.

"What happened to not taking her side anymore? Are you actually telling me that what she said was true?"

"I'm not 'taking her side'; I just want you to calm down and maybe hear what she has to say about all this. And of course that isn't true, although you were a surprise that doesn't mean we didn't want you, when we found out I was pregnant Yuzu and I wanted you more than anything in our lives. Plus you were in no way a 'mistake', and if you were...then know that you were the best mistake I ever made, alright?" Mama explained as it seemed she had caught Maiya off guard a little, not hearing her speak until a few moments later when a slight sigh escaped her and she replied after a short pause, just saying 'Right,' in a lowered tone, seeming like she had calmed down somewhat now thanks to Mama's encouraging words.

I didn't really like the idea of continuing to ears-drop on my sister and Mama, so I just thought to myself for a bit, now knowing I must have hurt Maiya and yet I didn't even realise it until this moment, and understood that I needed to apologise to her just as Rinne-san had said.

"Please Maiya; just try talking to her,"

"Why should I even bother?"

I could tell that Maiya was likely rolling her eyes at the moment from the annoyed tone in her voice, and as I could hear Mama still trying to convince her to come and talk to me about what had happened between us both, I thought it would be better for our Mama to not have to push for it, as I instead just nodded to myself and lightly pushed the bedroom door open.

"Because she really didn't mean to hurt you at all,"

I stated in a nervous tone, looking to Maiya with an anxious gaze as I saw her widen her eyes and look taken aback by seeing me at her door, although that didn't seem to last for very long at all, while she just raised her eyebrow to me and seemed like she wasn't convinced just yet so I continued on.

"I'm sorry Maiya, I should have never said that you were a mistake, or that Mom and Mama didn't want you, and I know now that I was wrong," I apologised as I could see Mama smiling to me, while Maiya still was giving me a stern stare, that showed me she wasn't willing to accept my apology just yet, which just caused me to think for a moment to try and work out what I could say to make her see that I really did feel bad for what I had said to her.

"Where did you even get the idea to ask those kinds of questions anyway?" Mama asked me as she caught my attention and gave me an encouraging smile, hinting at me to explain myself so that both she and Maiya could understand why I had said all those things to her earlier.

"It was just something Misa-chan made me think about after she thought that you were jealous of me, and made me think maybe that's why you always argue with me so much," I simply explained, looking down to the floor and fidgeting with my toes a little, as I felt a bit foolish to admit that Misa-chan's words from earlier had caused me to over think so much when I really didn't need to.

"Maybe you should have a talk with Misaka about keeping thoughts like that to herself in future," Maiya mumbled out as I could tell she wasn't really angry anymore, which I was glad for and just chuckled slightly in response, before I closed the bedroom door behind me and walked over to stand beside my sister, while she sat down on her bed now.

"I think she just wanted to find some way to help me not fight with you as much, I doubt she meant anything bad about it really,"

"Yeah, you're probably right," she agreed with me as she nodded in reply, before I let my slight smile fade as I tried apologising again, hoping that Maiya would accept it and maybe forgive me now that she no longer seemed all that mad at me anymore.

"I really am sorry Maiya, and I promise I won't ever say those kinds of things about you ever again," I spoke in a confident tone, giving Maiya a serious expression and letting her know I was being sincere, causing her to just soften her gaze and smile back to me finally, which made me breathe a sigh of relief.

"That's good to hear, and its okay, just try thinking a little more about the kind of questions you ask me in future, got it?" she simply stated as she ruffled my fair hair and caused me to chuckle again, smiling to her happily, while I nodded back to her.

"Got it,"

I simply replied as Maiya just winked to me and pulled me into a tight hug, while I glanced over to Mama and saw her just smiling and nodding to me caringly, before I just nuzzled into my sister's embrace and hugged her back.

Letting go of her a few minutes afterwards as both of us and Mama left Maiya's bedroom and made our way back into the lounge, causing Mom and Rinne-san to smile upon seeing that my sister and I had obviously made up, luckily being able to work through our troubles once again, while I knew not to let my mind over think things that I wasn't even sure about again. As well as being more careful when I thought of asking my sister certain questions, that might actually turn out to be hurtful towards her, knowing that it was better to not complicate things between Maiya and me since neither of us really enjoyed it when we were fighting, and much preferred it when we were getting along instead. Plus I had soon realised that it didn't really matter whether Maiya and I were planned or an 'accident' we knew Mama and Mom loved and wantes us both just the same.

**...**

**Hope you all enjoyed the sixth ****one-shot in this sequel series and the next one-shot should be up in about a week from now just you know. **

**Thank you all for reading by the way. ^_^ **

**Killerchainsaw ;) **


	7. Friends Will Always Be There For You

**Author's Notes: **

**I don't own Citrus or any of its characters, no copyright is intended.**

**This story is set after the events of another called 'Whatever The Future May Bring', so please go and read that story before reading this one so that you will be caught up on everything that has happened so far.**

_Italics - Means the person is thinking._

**Summary for one-shot:**

Set a couple of weeks after the previous one-shot Rinne is staying over for the night in Maiya's room, however as Mei and Yuzu think that the sometimes troublesome redheaded teen will be the only one they might worry about tonight, two unexpected visitors show up at their door and both looking to be in quite the distressed state over something.

**While all of these are all one-shots this one will be the only one that has a continuation and leads right into the next one just so you all know.**

**This story contains 'Science babies', don't question it, just enjoy it. ^_^**

**Warning: This contains yuri (girl x girl) pairings, don't like? Don't read simple otherwise enjoy. ;)  
**

**...**

It was already getting late into the evening when Mei, Yuzu and their two daughters had just finished eating their dinner together as they all still sat around the dining table in the kitchen and dining area, while everyone still had their empty plates in front of them, Yui talking with her two Mothers happily and Maiya casually chatting to her best friend 'Rinne' who was staying over for tonight.

This having been decided rather quickly, considering the fact that the two teens had been studying together for most of the day, and them not realising how late it had gotten as it was already getting really dark by the time they had decided to stop for a little while, so the dark haired teen had asked both of her Mothers if her redheaded friend could stay over at their house for the night since she didn't really want Rinne going back to her home in the dark by herself.

Rinne having refused at first saying that she was 'Fine on her own', but when Yuzu had heard that the young teen would be spending the night alone tonight since both of her parents were away on one of their 'business trips', the blonde basically wouldn't let Rinne say no to her older daughter's kind offer, being confident that they would all much prefer it if Rinne slept over for the night. While eventually the redheaded teen agreed after she saw neither her closet friend, nor her blonde Mother were going to just let her leave when it was already so late and dark outside.

Mei having wanted Rinne to stay over as well, as she also didn't like the idea of a young teen like Rinne having to walk home alone in the dark and then having to spend the night by herself, however she was a little weary of having the redhead staying over for the whole night since they all knew how troublesome she could sometimes be. But Maiya having reassured her Mothers that she would be sure that Rinne behaved herself for the night, Mei nonetheless still being a bit anxious about it all as she would occasionally glance over to her elder daughter talking with her best friend at the opposite end of the dining table, wondering just how things would go tonight.

Letting a deep sigh escape her lips Mei looked lost in her own thoughts as she propped herself up on her elbow, her sigh alerting the blonde sitting beside her and causing her to look to her wife and smile softly, resting her hand over Mei's free one and pulling her out of her thoughts in the process, widening her lavender eyes and glancing back to Yuzu she just giving her a small smile back when she saw that reassuring expression directed at her.

"Are you going to be sleeping in Maiya's room tonight, Rinne-san?" Yui piped up as she happily looked over to her sister and Rinne, smiling to them both, while Rinne simply just nodded back to the fair haired preteen.

"Yeah of course I am,"

She stated as this not being the first time that Rinne has stayed over for the night, but it had been a good while since she had eaten dinner with everyone, and then have a sleepover with Maiya like this. A slight smirk making its way across her lips at the moment, however the other teen noticing this as she spoke up and caught the attention of the other two now.

"But that doesn't mean you can bug me for the entire night, we're not staying up late just because you're sleeping over, alright," Maiya giving her close friend a stern warning, letting her know that she was being serious right now as she gave her a strict gaze, causing the redhead to just smile back to her with a bit of a nervous look as she had a feeling of how bad the consequences would be if she did decide to go against Maiya, which was something she hardly ever did.

"I hear you loud and clear, Mai-chan!"

Rinne replied as she gave a salute to Maiya, sitting up to attention like some soldier would, causing the other teen to just roll her eyes and smile while Yui chuckled in response. Mei and Yuzu both looking to their two daughters and Rinne and couldn't help but soften their expressions, smiling a moment later as Mei decided to just push those slight worries she was having to the back of her mind for now, trying to not think about them as she knew there likely wouldn't be a problem at all throughout the night, and even if something did happen then they could easily work through it together like they always do as a family.

Them all only sitting together at the dining table for a little bit longer, before Mei and Yuzu both stood up and picked all the dirty dishes up as Mei soon took them all into the kitchen, putting them into the sink to soak for now, while Yuzu looked back to their elder daughter and caught her attention a moment later as she called to the teen.

"Are you two going to get Rinne-san's futon ready for tonight?" the blonde Mother asked as she caused the three young girls to look back to her, Maiya and Rinne just nodding and smiling in response, before Yui quickly got down from her chair and came running over into the kitchen, beaming up to Yuzu as she did so.

"I can help with the dishes tonight since Maiya is busy with Rinne-san," she offered her help, clearly being more than happy to lend a hand as she often was when it came to doing housework, as was the same with Maiya when Rinne wasn't keeping her from doing such things that is.

"Thank you Yui-chan, you'd be a big help to your Mama and me,"

Yuzu smiled down to her younger daughter as she crouched down and ruffled her fair hair, causing the preteen to chuckle happily before they both walked into the kitchen to help Mei with washing, drying and putting away the dishes and cutlery from their dinner, while Maiya and Rinne had already gotten up from their chairs and started to make their way to the dark haired teen's bedroom together.

"Mama...can Misa-chan come round for a sleepover soon? It's been a while since she last stayed over after all," Yui caught the attention of her two Mothers as she looked up to Mei with a hopeful gaze in her lavender eyes, wearing a pleading expression at the moment, while causing both of her Mothers to just smile at their younger daughter wanting her best friend to come over for a sleepover, as Rinne staying over tonight had no doubt probably made her think about it.

"Of course she can Yui, just be sure to check with her Mothers first, alright?"

Mei simply answering with a nod to her younger daughter, causing the fair haired preteen to almost immediately light up and smile brightly in delight, before she nodded back to her Mother happily and continued on with helping to get all the dishes and cutlery washed, dried and put away for the night. Clearly she was looking forward to going back to school after the weekend and seeing her best friend again, as her two Mothers could easily guess what she was most likely planning to ask her the next time she would see and talk with Misaka. Yuzu and Mei both just smiled softly to seeing their younger daughter seeming so happy and excited over something that seemed so simple to them, when it clearly meant much more to her.

However their evening ritual of getting the dishes done soon being interrupted quite suddenly it seemed, as there were a few light knocks on the front door, followed by a couple of slightly louder knocks against the wood, this catching the attention of the three in the kitchen and causing them to all glance over to the entrance hallway. Yuzu and Mei looking to each other for a moment, as they were obviously wondering just who could be at their door while it was so late in the evening, the blonde just shrugging her shoulders slightly and putting down the plate she had just finished drying with the tea towel, before she turned and walked off to go see who had come to visit them at this hour.

"Now who could that be?"

The blonde Mother asked herself out loud as she left the kitchen and quickly made her way into the entrance hallway, walking up to the front door before she simply opened the door, still having a questioning expression on her face that seemed even more confused once she had seen just who was standing at their door right now.

Yuzu being certainly taken aback as she was greeted by Harumi and her daughter Misaka, while the two nervously looked to the blonde, Harumi giving her close friend a small smile and the eleven year old standing beside her Mother, a saddened expression resting on her face. Seeing the two standing at her door like this Yuzu was clearly wondering just why they had come here so late in the evening, and also why at the moment Matsuri wasn't with them.

"Hey Yuzucchi...we're not intruding on anything at all, are we?"

The brunette Mother asked in a polite tone, as it was obvious that she didn't want she and her daughter suddenly showing up like this to be a inconvenience at all for the blonde and her family, but Yuzu soon just shook her head quickly as she could easily tell something had happened, and wanted to know what that just might be.

"No, no not at all, what's happened?"

She gave her close friend a concerned expression and instantly wanted to just wrap her arms around her, to embrace and help Harumi with the clear pain she was hiding right now, as the brunette just chuckled weakly before responding after a short pause, a nervous gaze still being formed on her face and it seeming like she could break at any moment.

"It's a bit of a long story...do you have time to talk for a little while? We won't stay long I promise," Harumi giving another nervous smile to Yuzu as she had a hopeful look in her eyes, causing the blonde to not even think twice as she quickly nodded and invited the two inside, letting them both come in out of the cold and into their warm home.

"Sure of course, come in, come in,"

She replied, guiding Harumi and her young daughter inside as she closed the front door behind them both, before quickly leading them into the lounge and sitting them down on the sofa together, as she was being sure to let the brunette Mother know that she could take as long as she liked on telling her what had brought her and her daughter here, and there was no rush or pressure for her to worry about at all.

However before Harumi could really start to say anything at all Mei and Yui came walking into the lounge, clearly wondering just who had been at the door, only for the dark haired Mother to go silent when she saw the brunette Mother and her daughter both looking quite dishevelled, as well as very nervous still. Harumi greeting Mei as she gave her a weak smile, causing her to look back to the brunette with a questioning and also a bit of a worried expression in response, glancing to her blonde wife as it was obvious she was wanting an explanation for just what was going on right now with their close friend and her young daughter, but Mei figuring that Yuzu couldn't make anything any clearer since she was simply just as lost as she was at the moment.

"Misa-chan, what are you doing here?"

Yui asked with a pleasantly surprised tone in her voice, greeting her best friend happily as she walked up to her, noticing straight away that she didn't seem to be acting like herself at all and so she just held both of her arms out to her brunette friend, automatically causing her to widen her eyes and see the understanding gaze Yui was giving her in return. It being like some switch that Yui had just flipped somehow, as no sooner had the fair haired preteen outstretched her arms that Misaka immediately began tearing up, her bright blue eyes quickly overflowing as tears streamed down her cheeks and she started to sob loudly over her friend's shoulder, clutching on to the back of Yui's shirt while she buried her head into the older girl's neck.

The fair haired preteen just smiling softly and closing her eyes, showing that she didn't need to know what had happened just yet especially not since Misaka likely wasn't ready to talk about it all right now, so she just let her friend cry over her shoulder as that was what she clearly needed at the moment, while the three Mothers all smiled slightly to the two young girls embracing each other in order to give Misaka the comfort that she was certainly in need of it seemed.

It not being long before Misaka seemed to get all of her crying out, as she was soon calming down while still holding on to Yui, it being obvious that she didn't want to let her go just yet and the fair haired preteen just letting her cling to her for as long as she needed, just sniffling now the brunette preteen was starting to compose herself before Mei caught the attention of the two hugging friends.

"Yui, could you take Misaka into your bedroom for a bit please? We're just going to talk with her Mama Haru for a few minutes, and I'm sure she could use a drink right about now," the dark haired Mother suggested to her younger daughter, as she guessed her and Yuzu likely wouldn't get much out of Harumi about what had happened if the two young girls were with them still, plus it was practically crystal clear that Yui would probably know the best way to make her close friend feel better at a time like this. The caring preteen just nodding simply in reply to her Mother as Mei smiled to her, before she watched Yui just guide Misaka out of the lounge and into the kitchen, getting a drink for her and talking to her calmly all the while, the brunette just continuing to hold on to her friend for comfort still though.

"Alright, now what's going on here, has something happened?"

Mei asked, guessing that Harumi would find it easier to tell her and Yuzu about everything that had happened now that their young daughters had left, and were no longer in earshot anymore. Yuzu came to sit beside her best friend on the sofa, resting a caring hand on her shoulder while she was offering some much needed comfort to Harumi, the brunette soon just letting out a long sigh as she nodded slowly, pausing for a few moments to collect all her thoughts before she finally began telling the other two about what exactly had brought her and Misaka to coming here so late this evening.

"Well...Matsuri and I...we had a fight,"

The nervous brunette confessed, pausing between every few words as she had glanced away from the other two, looking down at her hands at the moment while it seemed what she had said just simply caused Mei and Yuzu to give her questioning expressions in response still, as they knew the other couple still often argued every now are again so thinking that this was all it was about didn't really feel like anything new at all, however both of the two other Mothers could tell that there was something much different from the norm this time around.

"Well okay...but you've had plenty of disagreements before right so-

"Not like this...it was different this time. We haven't had one this bad since before Misaka was born," Harumi cutting off Mei as she shook her head, mumbling out that last part in more of a low tone while she bit her bottom lip, and bawled her fists tightly not caring about the fact that her nails were digging into her palms at the moment at all.

Yuzu glancing to her wife with more of a worried gaze as they could both see just how distressed the brunette was right now, not being entirely sure how they would be able to help their close friend but for the moment they definitely needed to know more information about everything that had led up to Harumi coming here with her daughter so suddenly.

"How bad would you say exactly?"

she questioned nervously, feeling a little unsure whether she actually wanted to hear the answer or not, after all Harumi was known for putting up with a lot from her wife, so considering the fact that the brunette had been the one to leave and need to spend some time away from Matsuri was already quite surprising, since things would normally be the other way around when their arguments had gotten out of hand in the past.

"Yuzu...I told her 'I wish I had never married her'," was how Harumi answered which not surprisingly had caused the other two to look taken aback, as they very quickly were realising just how serious this 'fight' between their two close friends might have been.

"Okay yeah...that sounds pretty bad,"

The blonde just nodding and looking more anxious to Mei, as she was clearly unsure of just what they could do to help, this being the first real time in a long time that the other couple had fallen out this badly. The three of them all going silent for a few moments, but this not lasting long as soon Mei spoke up again, having caused Harumi to actually look back to her finally.

"Okay, just how exactly did this all start?"

Deciding to take things slow and start from the beginning, Mei still spoke in a calm and collected tone, hoping that this would all start making sense eventually now that they had a rough idea of just what they were dealing with, it being more than obvious that things between the other couple likely wouldn't be fixed as easily as they had been in the past.

Harumi just seeming to be thinking to herself for a few moments, working out how she would explain all that had happened to the other two, before she soon just took a deep breath and nodded to herself, "Well...you see for a while now Matsuri and I haven't really been agreeing on things when it comes to pretty much anything to do with Misaka growing up, whether it be about her future education, how her social life is currently going, how much independence we're giving her and all kinds of things like that," she started to tell the other couple just where this had all stemmed from originally, seeing that both Mei and Yuzu were following along fine, as they just nodded to the brunette every so often to show that they understood all that she was telling them, staying quiet as they let their close friend just continue on from where she had left off.

"Anyway Matsuri kept saying that we should give Misaka more independence, and even though I disagreed and believed she has enough for an eleven year old girl who is still only in elementary school, she went against my wishes and let our daughter go down to the shops alone to pick up a few things that we were running low on in the house, and while I guess that was fine really..." pausing and looking like she was hesitating for a moment, keeping Mei and Yuzu in suspense, while it was obvious that they were wondering just where this explanation of Harumi's was going, and what it could be leading to.

Them not having to wonder for very long though, as the brunette carried on soon afterwards, "But when she came back to the house she was crying and really upset about something, of course we were both worried about what had happened to her as she soon told us that when she was on her way home from the shops, she was standing at the crossing and had seen that there were no cars coming so she was just about to walk across, only to have a damn sports car come speeding out of nowhere which would've no doubt ran her over if she hadn't have moved out of the way fast enough," she explained as her distressed feelings were now beginning to rise inside of her once again, all of Harumi's emotions she was having before when the fight between her and Matsuri was happening were starting to flood back to her, while the other two Mothers both looked surprised, and concerned for their friend's young daughter after hearing what exactly had caused all of this to happen.

"That's scary, was she okay when she returned home?" Yuzu questioned as both her and Mei were starting to see just why this particular argument between Harumi and her wife had gotten so out of control, after all when the life of their dear daughter was involved it was no wonder that they often clashed over it so much really.

Just shaking her head slightly Harumi went into more detail as to what had happened after their frightened daughter had returned home crying, "Not physically at all...but...it was clear the whole ordeal had shaken her up quite a bit, she was crying for practically hours and didn't really calm down until it was late in the evening. So I talked to Matsuri about how that incident showed that it wasn't safe to let Misaka go to the shops by herself just yet, but like always when it comes to our parenting of our daughter she disagreed with me and things just kept escalating from there, before long we were screaming and shouting at each other, we both said things we didn't mean, and soon had alerted Misaka. As you could imagine us fighting had upset her even more so I decided to take her for a walk to calm her down, and also hopefully Matsuri and I would cool off while we were away from each other as well for a bit, then when we were walking past your house she asked if we could pay you a visit, and I figured there wouldn't be any harm in staying for about half-an-hour or so. Plus I thought Yui might be able to cheer Misaka up...and you two already know what happened from there," she finished her rather long story of everything that had led up to where they currently were now, sighing once she was done explaining and just leaning back against the sofa cushions, as she seemed to be a little more relaxed since she had gotten all that off her chest, although it was easy to see that she was still holding back certain thoughts and feelings at the moment.

Mei and Yuzu just glancing to each other as they were staying silent for now, looking like they were both just taking in all that the brunette had said and weren't exactly sure if they knew any way they could help out their two close friends just yet, but it looking like they wouldn't be getting that much time to dwell on it all. As before either of them could offer up any advice to Harumi their young daughters had returned from the fair haired preteen's bedroom, and had soon caught the three Mothers attention when they spoke up suddenly.

"Mama, Mom, can Misa-chan sleepover tonight?"

Yui asked in a polite and also kind of nervous tone, hoping that her Mothers would say yes, however both Mei and Yuzu looked to their younger daughter with concerned expressions, as they thought it was sweet that their caring daughter wanted to give her best friend more of the comfort and support she needed at the moment. But the two of them not being sure whether they should let Misaka stay over, since they were already having Rinne spending the night here, and it was quite likely that Harumi would decline such a kind gesture anyway.

It seeming like they were right after all as the brunette Mother stood up from the sofa, coming to stand in front of her young daughter now while she leaned down a little, and rested both of her hands on Misaka's shoulders, "Sweetie you can't stay here, we need to go back home," Harumi speaking to her daughter in a caring tone, but causing her to just shake her head in response, making it clear that her mind was already made up.

"No I don't want to go back home, you and Mama Matsu are just going to start fighting again if we go back now, I want to stay here with Yui-chan tonight," she stated in a determined voice as she caused her Mother to look taken aback for a moment, thinking that her daughter was just being stubborn at first, but when she saw a look of obvious anxiety in her bright blue eyes, she guessed that the young girl had been though a lot today and there was no guarantee that if they did return back home her and Matsuri wouldn't get into another heated argument at some time during the night like Misaka feared they would.

And so Harumi just giving her daughter an understanding expression, before she glanced back to Mei and Yuzu with a bit of a pleading gaze directed to them both, "Do you two mind if Misaka stays over tonight? I could take her to stay at my sisters instead if it's too much trouble," the brunette Mother suggested as she didn't want to be any more of a inconvenience then she and her daughter already had been so far, causing the other two Mothers to look to each other for a couple of minutes, them seeming to be agreeing on the same thing as they soon nodded in unison, however Misaka interrupting them before they could say anything at all.

"But I don't want to stay at Auntie's, I want to stay here-

"Hey it's no problem really; of course you can stay here for tonight Misaka," Yuzu cut the young girl off before she could continue her protesting, as she gave a caring smile down to her younger daughter's best friend, causing the two preteens to both look pleasantly surprised, while they had hopeful looks in their eyes.

"Really, you mean it Mom?" Yui asked as she caused her blonde Mother to glance back over to Mei for a moment, almost as if she was seeing if she would get her approval, while the dark haired Mother just nodded back to her wife in response with a slight sigh.

Nodding simply Yuzu caused the two young girls to light up and smile brightly to each other, clearly being excited about their sleepover tonight, it being easy to tell that they were already planning out what they would do together, "You can sleep in my bedroom with me Misa-chan, I'll get a futon out for myself and you can have my bed for the night," the fair haired preteen said as she sounded pretty certain about her decision, even though her friend protested against it a moment later.

"Why don't you stay over as well Taniguchi-san? I'm sure after all this has happened you and Matsuri could likely use a night apart from each other," Mei surprisingly suggested as she caused for Yuzu and Harumi to look taken aback to her, not expecting her to be the one to purpose something like what she just had, but it seeming like she was certainly sure about it.

"Oh no, I wouldn't want to impose even more than I already have on you two like that, I'll just stay with my sister for the night, I'm sure she won't mind really," the brunette shook her head as she composed herself, refusing Mei's kind offer straight away, as it was true she didn't really want to go back home either and have to face her wife tonight, but then she didn't want her two close friends going above and beyond for her when they were already doing so much for her by letting her daughter stay over for the night.

However the other two Mothers clearly not wanting to take no for an answer it seemed, "You're not 'imposing' on us at all Harumin, and plus this way you wouldn't have to worry about troubling your sister at all," the blonde reassured with an understanding smile to her best friend, showing that she had composed herself and although Mei having offered for Harumi to stay as well was still quite surprising to her, she agreed with the idea and figured she would have likely suggested the same thing if her wife hadn't beaten her to it.

"You two really are too kind, but where would I even sleep?" Harumi continuing to protest as she was just coming up with excuses now, knowing that the other couple didn't have a guest room of any sort, and already had guessed that they wouldn't let her just sleep on the sofa in the lounge, but Yuzu already seeming to know what to say in reply to her best friend.

"We've got plenty of futons, so you can sleep on one of them in our bedroom, or you could have the bed if you would prefer, Mei and I wouldn't really mind sleeping on a futon for the night," she simply answered as she gave another smile to Harumi, glancing back to her wife while she just nodded in return, seeming to agree with all that the blonde was saying at the moment, the brunette going to deny the generous offer once again only to be cut off before she could say anything at all.

"Or she can stay in my room," they all heard a unmistakable voice speak up, causing them all to look to the doorway and really not being all that surprised to see Maiya and Rinne standing by the door, as they both gave the others nervous smiles as it was obvious they knew all about what was going on right now.

"I thought you two were getting Maiya's bedroom ready for your sleepover?" Mei asked as she wondered just when her older daughter and her best friend had left Maiya's bedroom, as well as how much they had both heard, soon finding those two things out it would seem while her teenage daughter replied to her in still quite the nervous tone.

"We were...but we came to see who was at the door, and when I saw that it was just Misaka and her Mother I was going to go back to my bedroom, however Rinne here wouldn't leave and so we ended up overhearing everything after Yui had taken Misaka into the kitchen earlier," the dark haired teen simply explained as she gave a nervous chuckle to her two Mothers, while they both gave a smile back to their older daughter, thinking it was sweet that she wanted to do something nice and offer her room for Harumi to sleep in for the night, but that would mean that the two teens wouldn't have anywhere to sleep tonight.

"That's very kind of you Maiya, but where will you and Rinne-san sleep?" Yuzu questioned as she expected her older daughter to come up with some sort of answer that she quickly made up, but it was surprisingly Rinne who replied to the blonde a moment later, with a confident tone in her voice.

"Well I have this idea that us two as well as Yui and Misaka can all sleep in the lounge tonight, we could grab all the futons plus lots of pillows and blankets and lay them all out on the floor, we could watch a couple of movies and even have a few snacks and drinks for us all. It can be like a big 'slumber party' for the four of us," the redhead suggested her idea with a smile, as Maiya just nodded with a smile as well, causing Yui and Misaka to both beam and look to their Mothers with pleading gazes, the two of them being certainly excited about this idea of Rinne's she had come up with.

"Honestly Harumin, I don't see how you can say 'no' to that idea,"

The blonde looking impressed as she folded her arms and smiled slightly, while her and all the others just looked to Harumi with hopeful expressions as they all just wanted to help the brunette Mother in any way that they could, and they all believed letting her stay with them for the night to let her know she had them there for support and comfort, if she needed it at any time at all was the best way to do exactly that.

Hesitating for a couple of moments Harumi saw that all the others really were trying to do something nice for her by letting her stay over like this, and truthfully although she didn't like to admit it she agreed that Rinne's idea did sound pretty perfect after all, so she soon sighed deeply and looked away from all the hopeful eyes that were on her right now, nodding her head finally in response.

"Fine, I'll stay over as well, but just for tonight, okay?"

She warned as she gave the others a bit of a stern stare, as they all just nodded to her in reply, before she couldn't help but smile as all of the young four girls cheered happily and high-fived one another, while Mei and Yuzu just sighed with relief and were glad that their close friend had agreed to stay with them 'just for tonight', as they believed she would definitely benefit from it in the morning.

"Come on you two, let's go and get the lounge all set up and ready for tonight," Rinne said to the two younger girls, causing them to both nod excitedly, before they ran off to go and grab everything for tonight and gained an eye roll from Maiya, who just chuckled slightly and then turned back to her two Mothers when she heard Mei calling to her a minute later.

"Remember to not stay up too late tonight, okay?"

She instructed to her elder daughter, as she felt she was the one that could be trusted the most to not have them all stay awake for too long, since they all pretty much knew that Maiya was probably the most responsible of them all, while she just simply nodded to her Mother with a smile before she soon followed after the other three.

Having left the three Mothers to just smile to one another at watching their daughters smiling and having fun even though not the best of situations had brought them all here together, Mei and Yuzu soon changing the subject and staying away from talking about the troubles that Harumi was having with Matsuri, and instead just catching up for a little bit while watching their daughters and Rinne getting everything ready in the lounge together for their slumber party tonight.

...

A couple of hours later everything was set up in the lounge for the four young girls, meaning that Harumi could now go and get ready for bed in Maiya's bedroom as she thought it would be better for her to have an early night, and maybe try and sort out what to do about her and Matsuri in the morning after she had gotten some much needed rest. Having changed into some pyjamas that Yuzu had given to her to wear, she was now just texting her wife and sitting up in the bed, feeling more than grateful that Maiya had lent it to her for the night.

Yuzu coming in to check on her best friend as she slowly opened the door, looking a little concerned when she walked into the room to see Harumi having a troubled expression while she looked to her phone screen, before she soon noticed the blonde had come into the room and so just put her phone away, giving a small smile to Yuzu in response to her smiling to her caringly.

"I was just messaging Matsuri to tell her Misaka and I were staying with you and Mei tonight," the brunette nervously stated as Yuzu came to sit beside her on the bed, nodding and giving a slightly hopeful look to her friend in reply.

"What did she say?"

"'Do whatever you want',"

Harumi simply repeating what her wife had texted back to her only a few seconds ago, having guessed that Matsuri was still mad about their fight, but the brunette still finding that she felt downhearted by the fact that things were likely going to be tense like this between them for a while, until they would hopefully find a way to make up and get past all this.

"Well at least she replied to you, that's a good sign right?"

Yuzu smiling nervously as she was trying to give Harumi the confidence she needed to try and work through her troubles with Matsuri, but not really knowing what she should say in order to help the brunette, since she had only seen her this distressed a few times before now, not knowing exactly how she could try to lift her friend's spirits at the moment. Just shrugging her shoulders in reply Harumi sighed a little as she rested her head in her hands, running a hand through her long brown hair while she caused the blonde to look more concerned for her, resting a caring hand on Harumi's shoulder and catching her attention now.

"You do want to make up with Matsuri...right?"

She asked the brunette as even though the couple hadn't fallen out this badly in years, she hoped they would still be able to work through it all just like they always have done in the past, while Harumi quickly turned her head to the blonde as she looked a little taken aback by Yuzu's question, but soon composed herself as she guessed she still probably seemed pretty mad at her wife currently.

"Of course I do, I love her and I don't want us to keep arguing over how we care for our daughter like this, also I know what happened with Misaka and that car wasn't really her fault, but I am still mad at her for letting our daughter go through that all by herself. However I shouldn't have let myself get so angry, I mean I called her 'an irresponsible Mother' and said that 'sometimes I wish I had never married her since she was always acting like things weren't a big deal at all with serious matters like what had happened to Misaka earlier today'," obviously feeling bad for some of the things she had blurted out to her wife in the heat of the moment when she was arguing with her earlier, knowing that Matsuri wasn't completely at fault for what had happened, and truthfully she likely shared some of the blame as well really.

Nodding in response Yuzu just let Harumi get all of her feelings out, listening to her say all that she needed to without interrupting her at all, as she could see that her best friend didn't really need any advice right now, instead she just needed a shoulder to cry on and that's what the blonde was trying to give to her in support.

"I just hope she can forgive me for saying all that stuff to her," sighing deeply Harumi looked away from Yuzu as she bit her bottom lip, and held back the slight tears she felt welling up inside her eyes, while the blonde just gave her an encouraging smile and pulled her into a caring embrace, holding her close and rubbing her back in hopes of comforting her better.

"I'm sure she will, after all this is Matsuri we're talking about here, so no doubt she knows you didn't mean a lot of those things you said to her, and besides she probably said some things that she regrets now as well," she stated in a confident voice, as she caused Harumi to just soon nod into her shoulder and hug Yuzu back tightly, while the two of them sat in silence for a little bit before the brunette broke the quiet and spoke in a low tone.

"I really can't thank you all enough for all this," smiling nervously Harumi felt like she was incredibly lucky to have close friends like Mei, Yuzu and their two daughters doing such kind and caring things for her and her daughter, being surprised that Rinne had wanted to help out too while Yuzu just shrugged her shoulders slightly and nodded to the brunette.

"There really is no need to thank us, we just all want to be here for you and your family whenever you needs us, after all I'm sure you'd do the exact same for Mei and me," the blonde simply smiling as she caused Harumi to nod back to her in reply, before she gave her best friend another comforting hug and soon left her to get into bed and hopefully get some rest for tonight, so that she could wake up tomorrow and feel more confident about fixing things with Matsuri, along with Yuzu and Mei's help if they ended up needed it at all.

...

Meanwhile in the lounge the four young girls were all dressed in their pyjamas (both Rinne and Misaka having borrowed a pair of pyjamas from Maiya and Yui), getting ready for their slumber party all together as Maiya and Rinne were picking out a couple of movies to watch, while Yui was busy covering her futon in blankets and pillows and Misaka was sitting up in her bed for the night, kind of staring off into space at the moment as she was lost in her own thoughts it seemed.

"Rinne I already told you we can't watch any scary movies, we'll get into trouble if Yui and Misaka end up having nightmares after all. Plus you and I aren't even old enough to watch those sorts of movies, just where did you get them from anyway?"

"I have my ways,"

The two teens trying to decide on which films they would be watching tonight, as Maiya knew they had to pick movies that all of them could watch together, however Rinne not really having brought any 'age appropriate' ones it seemed in the bag she had brought with her from her home earlier in the day. The dark haired teen just rolling her emerald eyes to her best friend, before she just turned away from her and instead called to Misaka, catching the preteen's attention and causing her to look back to her in response.

"Misaka, are there any movies here that you would like to watch?" Maiya asked with a smile to the younger girl as she gestured towards the pile of DVDs on the floor; however Misaka seeming to have other things on her mind right now as she didn't answer at first, before she just shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"Oh um...I don't know...whatever you guys pick will be fine with me,"

She answered, as she faked a smile to the two teens and looked away from them afterwards, causing them both to glance to each other with concerned expressions, as they could tell something was troubling the brunette at the moment and guessed it likely had to do with all that had happened today with her two Mothers.

"What's wrong Misa-chan? It's okay, you can tell us,"

Yui spoke up, as she had taken her attention off of making her bed and also seemed to notice the distance gaze her best friend had in her bright blue eyes at the moment, giving Misaka an understanding expression while the other two just nodded to the brunette with reassuring smiles, causing her to pause and think before she sighed slightly.

"I was just thinking about my Mamas, after all I've never seen them argue like that before, they just kept shouting and saying really mean things to each other. So I was wondering...if they would be able to work it out and make up...or if they'll just keep fighting like this," the brunette explained the thoughts that she was having at the moment after a short a pause, her voice going really quiet when she finished what she was saying, while causing Maiya and Rinne to glance to each other again as they were unsure of what they could say to reassure the younger girl, however Yui luckily seemed to know exactly what to say to give her best friend the hope that she needed right now.

"Of course they'll be able to work it out. Right?" the fair haired preteen glanced over to her elder sister and Rinne, hinting at them to agree with her as they both seemed to quickly catch on and nod back to Yui in reply.

"Yes Yui's right, after all they always work out their problems in the end...don't they?"

Maiya agreed as she and Rinne just nodded to the other two girls, giving Misaka reassuring smiles while Yui came to sit beside her best friend, resting a caring hand on her shoulder before the brunette just soon widened her eyes and let a small smile form on her lips, looking to the other three's comforting faces and just them alone causing her to feel a little bit better.

"Yeah you're probably right, thank you guys...I really don't think I would be able to get through this without you all being here for me," she stated in a low tone, feeling her eyes filling with tears again but simply just wiping them away when Yui pulled her into a tight hug a moment later.

"That's what friends are for after all,"

Simply replying with a softened smile Yui held her best friend close as Misaka just nuzzled into her, and soon felt a warm sensation spread throughout her chest, while Maiya and Rinne came over to both join in the caring embrace, the three of them all hugging the brunette and being glad to see her smiling again. The four of them hugging in silence for a little bit longer before they all decided on what movies they would watch together, and soon settled into their futons with lots of snacks and drinks so that they could enjoy the films they had picked out, and then would likely be lying down to get some much needed rest, hopefully feeling ready to face whatever would happen tomorrow together.

**...**

**Hope you all enjoyed the seveth ****one-shot in this sequel series and the next one (which will actually be the last one in this series) should be up in about a week from now just you know. **

**I was going to post this yesterday as normal but just didn't have enough time to, so here it is now instead. Look forward to the last chapter in this series next week by the way. :) **

**Thank you all for reading by the way. ^_^ **

**Killerchainsaw ;) **


	8. Remembering The Love That They Share

**Author's Notes: **

**I don't own Citrus or any of its characters, no copyright is intended.**

**This story is set after the events of another called 'Whatever The Future May Bring', so please go and read that story before reading this one so that you will be caught up on everything that has happened so far.**

_Italics - Means the person is thinking._

**Summary for one-shot:**

Continuing from where the previous one-shot left off Harumi is wondering just what she should do about her and Matsuri from here, while Mei and Yuzu are still stuggling to find a way that they can help their two close friends, as the other couple has done for them many times in the past. However what they are all soon to find out is that Rinne and Maiya have their own plans hidden up their sleeves on how they just might be able to help out the quarreling couple with their troubles.

**While all of these are all one-shots this one will be the only one that is a continuation of the previous one just so you all know.**

**This story contains 'Science babies', don't question it, just enjoy it. ^_^**

**Warning: This contains yuri (girl x girl) pairings, don't like? Don't read simple otherwise enjoy. ;)  
**

**...**

The next morning Harumi had woken up early, deciding that although she was able to get a good night's sleep, she'd rather not let herself sleep in toady, not only because she didn't really feel comfortable using someone else's bed for longer than she needed to. But also because her mind was filled with questions as to how she would hopefully be able to fix things with her wife, after all she didn't want them continuing to fight like this, and she didn't want them to just try and avoid the problem either, however in all honesty she wasn't really sure just how she would go about it all.

Sitting at the dining table by herself as no one else was up just yet it seemed, while she had already made a cup of tea to enjoy and was now leaning forward in her chair, thinking back to when that big argument between her and Matsuri had happened, all the things that were said and all that followed afterwards were causing her head to spin a little at the moment.

It seeming like unfortunately despite her being able to get a good rest, she was still at a bit of a loss on just how she would talk to her wife about everything and try to work out their differences, so that they could hopefully make up just like they somehow had always found a way to in the past. However whether Matsuri would actually be willing to talk with her again after everything would likely be a different story.

While thinking to herself and still going over a few things inside her mind the brunette was soon greeted by both Mei and Yuzu walking into the kitchen and dining area, as the two smiled to their close friend and caused her to be distracted from her thoughts for a bit, "Good morning Harumin, did you sleep well?" the blonde asked in a cheerful tone as she came to sit down next to her best friend, Mei just giving a nod to Harumi with a softened smile before she walked into the kitchen to make a cup of tea for herself and her wife.

"Yeah...for the most part I guess...but I still have no idea how I'm going to try and fix things with Matsuri," sighing slightly Harumi mumbled that last bit out in a low tone, causing the other two Mothers to just glance to each other for a moment or two, both of them looking concerned and unsure of what exactly they could do to help out the other couple through this 'rough patch' they were going through right now.

"Well you and Misaka are going to need to go back home sometime today, so if you would like...Mei and I could come with you. I mean I understand that we might not be that much of a big help to you, but you could find that you feel more encouraged if we're there for you...and Matsuri as well of course," Yuzu suggested in a bit of a nervous tone, as she and Mei were still trying to think of ways that they could support their two close friends during this difficult time, while the brunette just nodded her head before she shrugged her shoulders afterwards, another deep sigh escaping her lips.

"I guess that might help...but I still don't know how I'm going to approach her about the whole thing, plus she might not want to talk about it all just yet," she pointed out as she caused the other two to just nod back to her, them all knowing how difficult Matsuri could be to talk with sometimes, especially when it was a topic that she didn't want to talk about. However Yuzu and Mei still seeming to believe there was hope for the other couple, after all although they hadn't had a fight as bad as this one in years, there was still the fact that they both loved each other. So maybe that as well as their young daughter and other factors would help them to push past this, and get through it together in the end, just like they always eventually have done in the past.

"Let's not focus on that too much right now. You and Misaka are staying for breakfast right?" the dark haired Mother asked as she caught the attention of Harumi, causing her to look back to her, before she just nodded her head a moment later in reply, knowing it would be better to just 'cross that bridge when they came to it' rather than stressing over it all when she didn't really need to.

"If it's not too much trouble for the two of you,"

The brunette giving a nervous look to her two close friends, which soon turned into a softened smile when they both just nodded back to her with reassuring smiles, before she stood up from her chair and left to go and see if the four young girls who had all slept in the lounge together last night were awake yet, while Mei and Yuzu began to make breakfast for everyone in the kitchen.

Harumi being a little surprised to see the two teens were actually wide awake by the looks of things, both of them sitting up in their futons and talking to each other in hushed tones for some reason, the brunette Mother walking to lean over the back of the sofa in the lounge, soon seeing that her daughter and Yui were still sound asleep which caused her to smile lovingly to her young daughter's peaceful resting face.

"What are you two doing up so early, did you both get enough sleep?" she questioned to the two teens as she caused them both to stop talking to each other, and instead turn to look back at her in response, while they soon just smiled to Harumi simply.

"Yes, don't worry we got plenty of rest last night,"

Rinne stated with a cheerful smile to Harumi, sitting with her hands behind her back, as the slight dark circles and bags under her brown eyes showed that she was not exactly being all that truthful right now. However Maiya not seeming to have the same cheery demeanour about her this morning, rolling her eyes slightly while she looked away from her close friend and lowered her tone a bit.

"Speak for yourself Rinne, I'm exhausted from all that 'brainstorming' you and I did last night," she folded her arms over her chest, giving Rinne a bit of a glare and clearly wasn't feeling as energetic as her redheaded friend was it seemed this morning, causing Harumi to raise her eyebrow and look a little confused, wondering what the dark haired teen was going on about at this moment in time.

"Brainstorming for what?"

"You'll soon see, but for now...it's a secret,"

The redhead smirked to the curious Mother, placing a single finger up to her lips as she winked to Harumi, causing her to just look more confused about just what Rinne had hiding up her sleeve, while Maiya continued to glare to her close friend and getting a nervous expression in response from Rinne before the dark haired teen changed the subject.

"Let's just go and get some breakfast, I'm practically starving anyway,"

Maiya said with a sigh as she stood up from her futon and started to head out of the lounge, making her way into the kitchen and dining area and leaving Rinne to come following after her, while Harumi looked back to her sleeping daughter thinking that she should just leave her to rest for a little bit longer. But that thought of her's being forgotten about when the young brunette stirred in her sleep, before waking up and sitting on her futon, stretching her arms out and yawning slightly while she soon heard her Mother greeting her caringly.

"Good morning sweetie, did you sleep okay last night?" smiling to her young daughter Harumi spoke in a gentle tone, as Misaka simply nodded back to her before seeming to be thinking to herself, looking away from her Mother and instead glancing to her fair haired best friend, who was still sound asleep on her futon beside the brunette's.

Seeing that her daughter looked troubled at the moment as she saw the slight frown that was resting on the preteen's lips right now, guessing that it was likely pretty obvious what she may be worrying herself about at the moment, but before her Mother got the chance to say anything at all Misaka turned back to Harumi and cut her off with a question in a bit of a rushed voice.

"Are you going to fix things with Mama Matsu today?" her sudden question throwing off her Mother for a moment or two, although it's not like Harumi felt she shouldn't have expected her daughter to ask her something like that since she had also probably been thinking about the big argument that her two Mothers had had the day before just like she had been since it happened yesterday.

Harumi looking like she was thinking for a few minutes, wondering how she should answer her daughter as she saw the serious expression on her face right now, making it clear that she wanted a real response from her Mother and not just something she would say to brush the preteen off at all, letting a slight sigh escape her lips Harumi soon just nodded back to Misaka.

"I'm not sure if we'll be able to 'fix things' but I will talk with her later and we'll see where we go from there, okay?" she explained with a reassuring smile to her daughter, causing her to just nod back to her as although that reply wasn't really the one she had been wanting to hear, it was likely the best one that she was going to get from her Mother so she decided to just take it, and hope that things would turn out okay later on when her Mothers would speak to each other again.

"But for now we shouldn't stress so much over it all, your breakfast is waiting for you in the kitchen, so why don't you wake up Yui-chan?" the brunette Mother suggested kindly to her daughter as she gestured to the fair haired preteen, who was still sleeping peacefully in her futon, Misaka just nodding to her Mother with a small smile before Harumi gave her a quick hug, and left the lounge to wait for the two young girls to come and join them all in the kitchen and dining area.

Misaka just watching her Mother leave before she crawled over to her best friend and shook her shoulder lightly, causing the older girl to stir in her sleep a little, opening her lavender eyes and sitting up on her futon a moment later, while she stretched and greeted the brunette with a comforting smile, "Morning Misa-chan, you ready to face today head on?" she asked with an encouraging expression as she hoped to give her friend the confidence that she needed.

"You bet,"

The younger girl replied as she was still feeling a little anxious about what today would bring for her and her two Mothers, but knew that Yui would be there for her to give her the support she needed at any time just like she and her family did last night for both her and her Mother. The two young girls just smiling to each other happily, before they both stood up from their futons and made their way into the kitchen and dining area to join everyone else for breakfast, walking hand in hand as they sat down beside each other and made the young brunette believe that she could definitely get through everything going on with her Mothers, just as long as she had her best friend to stand together with her through it all.

...

Breakfast passed by with a few small conversations here and there, with nobody really wanting to bring up the subject of what Harumi was planning to do about her and her wife, as none of them wanted to bring down the relaxed mood that had soon settled on them all. However once everyone had finished eating and Harumi was thinking about leaving so her and Misaka could make their way back home, Maiya caught the attention of the two brunettes and pretty much everyone else sitting at the dining table as she called to Misaka's Mother and seemed to have a question for her.

"Harumin before you and Misaka leave...would it be alright if I asked you something?"

The dark haired teen smiling innocently to Harumi as she caused the brunette Mother to just smile back to her in response, not seeming to suspect anything just yet, however soon realising that maybe she should be a little sceptical when she saw Maiya glance to Rinne with a knowing gaze, while her redheaded friend just smirked back to her, before she looked back to Harumi again.

"Sure, what is it Maiya-chan?

"Would you mind going somewhere with us this morning? We promise it's not far," the teen keeping her innocent smile still as she was causing Harumi to look back to her with a questioning gaze, this request of her's already sounding quite odd, only getting a shrug and a just as confused expression from Mei and Yuzu when she glanced over to them for some sort of explanation, as to what their elder daughter was currently planning.

"Just what is this all about?" raising her eyebrow to Maiya, Harumi wasn't sure how she should feel about the teen asking her this out of the blue question, that definitely seemed very bizarre to the brunette Mother and to everyone but Rinne as well.

"Don't worry, it's nothing big...we just want to show you something as all, and you can all come as well if you would like to," Rinne chimed in as she just propped herself up on her elbow, still smirking to the dark haired teen sitting beside her, as it was clear they were both up to something and the others all guessing they wouldn't get to find out what that was exactly, until they agreed to come along with the two teenage girls to wherever they were wanting to take Harumi this morning for some unknown reason.

So Harumi just soon agreeing and nodding her head, guessing that she wasn't going to get a real answer out of the two teens until she said she would come along with them just like they had wanted, both Maiya and Rinne being very vague still it seemed with how they explained where they were wanting to go and why, leaving all the others to just figure that they likely would only know what this was all about when they would arrive at wherever it was, that the two teens were going to be taking all of them to.

Once everyone had gotten dressed and ready to go all of them had left out of the door, as Maiya and Rinne led them all to where the local nature park was, stopping when they had arrived which in turn caused Harumi to look around, thinking it was even more odd that the two teens had wanted to bring her here, and she thought it was a little strange that the park was practically empty when normally it would be a very busy place filled with families and couples especially on the weekends like today.

"So I see that you two wanted to bring me to the park some reason, does that mean you're finally going to tell us what this is all really about?" the brunette Mother asked as she folded her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrow to both Maiya and Rinne, obviously wanting to know why she and all the others had been brought here by the two teens, Maiya's Mothers and the two younger girls looking just as confused as to what they were all here for. However the dark haired teen just glanced back to her redheaded best friend, while they smirked to each other before Maiya just looked to Harumi once again, knowing that they no longer needed to be so vague anymore and could probably come clean about everything now that they were all here.

"Well...before we do tell you about why exactly we have brought you all here, there's someone you should really see," Maiya simply stated as she gestured a hand out and causing Harumi to follow in the direction that the teen's hand was going in, having an expression of wondering still on her face before it soon changed into one of surprise, when she suddenly spotted her wife standing under a blue bell flower covered archway along with a smartly dressed man standing beside her.

The brunette widening her eyes and looking taken aback, as she looked to her wife for a moment and then shifting back to Maiya, while the teen just made a gesture with her head and hinted at Harumi to go over to Matsuri, which she did slowly before the two teens guided all the others over to the archway and having them stand opposite Matsuri and the smartly dressed man.

Everyone still questioning just what was going on at the moment as Maiya guided Harumi over to stand beside Matsuri, causing her to look nervous and still very much confused while her wife just glanced back to her with an anxious gaze. Harumi seeming to notice her wife's clothing choice right away as she looked over the long, lacy and graceful white summer dress, seeing that it almost reached the grass and stopped just at her feet as it seemed to show quite the resemblance to a sort of wedding dress really, with white sandals, a white necklace and even shimmering white ear rings to complete the whole look.

"You...you look beautiful Matsuri, but...what are you doing here?"

Harumi not really knowing what to say to her wife as it had been a while since she saw her in such a regal dress, plus she wasn't exactly sure how she should approach talking with Matsuri since they hadn't really spoken a word to each other since they had had their big fall out yesterday, however it seeming like Matsuri was also just as confused as the brunette was about all this.

Just shrugging her shoulders slightly with a bit of a nervous smile, a small blush making its way across her cheeks as it had been a while since her wife had called her 'beautiful', considering the fact that the two of them hadn't been on the best of terms for weeks, but before Matsuri could say anything at all Rinne interrupted the two and caused everyone to turn to her in response.

"Well...since you two have been arguing quite a bit when it comes to how you both parent Misaka, and then with the whole ordeal happening yesterday, Mai-chan and I wanted to do something more than just try and be there for you all. We've never seen Harumi-san and Misaka look as distraught and troubled as they did last night. So Mai-chan and I stayed up for half the night trying to work out what we could do for you both, and after a lot of brainstorming was done between us we came up with doing something that would maybe make you two remember just how much you really love each other...then I called up my Dad's friend who is a part-time priest since the idea that we finally came up with was to organize a little renewal of your wedding vows for the both of you," the redhead finally explained everything with a smile as she gestured towards the smartly dressed man, standing between Harumi and Matsuri at the moment, while everyone surely did seem surprised by all this but it being quite the pleasant surprise, since the two teens were doing this all for the two Mothers who had been feuding with each other for quite some time now.

"You two did all of this for us?"

The brunette questioned as she felt a soft smile tugging at her lips, while the others all still looked pleasantly surprised, at which the two teens had put all of this together in the matter of such a short time it would seem. Maiya just shrugging her shoulders as she and Rinne both just smiled back to the two Mothers that stood in front of them at the moment, glad to see that this might work out well after all since Harumi and Matsuri were willing to go through with it all by the looks of things.

"We wanted to do something to try and help you two work things out between you both, plus Rinne was the one that came up with the idea and planned everything out, all I did was call up Matsuri this morning, tell her what to wear and tell her to meet us here just before noon," the dark haired teen simply explaining as she pointed to the redhead standing beside her with her thumb, causing Rinne to just smile proudly to her close friend, before looking back to Harumi and Matsuri again.

"Well I thought we could at least give it a shot...so what do you two say, would you be willing to get married to each other again?" asking with a bit of a nervous and hopeful smile, Rinne and Maiya were both feeling a little anxious, wondering how the two would answer, while all the others just looked to Harumi and Matsuri as they also waited to hear what the couple would say in reply to the two teens.

"I know I would definitely like to, what about you Harumi?" Matsuri looking to her wife with a small smile, as she could easily tell just by gazing to the brunette she was pretty sure she knew what Harumi's reply was going to be, while she just nodded back to her with a returned smile.

"Honestly Matsuri...I would marry you over a hundred times,"

She spoke confidently as she caused Matsuri and all the others to smile with relief, while Rinne just gave a signal to the priest causing him to just nod back to her, before he cleared his throat and began to start the ceremony, Harumi and Matsuri soon joining their hands together and holding on tightly to each other. The two smiling to the other as they waited for the priest to ask them to say their vows, so that they could say what they needed to, not having much time to think about it all really, but then not needing a lot of time since they both kind of have already been thinking about what they would say to the other once they were talking again after their falling out

While the small ceremony was beginning the others were all watching in delight, smiles on all their faces as they were clearly all glad for Rinne arranging all of this for the other couple, as it just might had been what they really needed to work through their troubles together, like their young daughter had been hoping they would as she seemed like she couldn't be more grateful for the redheaded teen putting this all together for her two Mothers.

"Matsuri, would you like to go first?"

The priest asked as he smiled to Matsuri, gesturing for her to say her vows while she just nodded to him, seeming to be thinking to herself at first and going over the words inside her mind, before she just turned back to Harumi and began to not only say her vows to her wife but also apologize for what had happened between them to cause all of this.

"Well since neither one of us knew this was going to be happening today until a little while ago, you'd probably think that I likely wouldn't have much prepared, but...the truth is I've been wanting to say this to you for weeks now, I've been wanting to say it every time that we have a argument over how we raise Misa-chan...however as you could easily imagine my pride got in the way each time and stopped me from apologizing. Because...that is what I really should've done long before now, after all I knew I was in the wrong...I just didn't want to admit it, to you or to myself," causing Harumi to widen her eyes, as it seemed like she really wasn't expecting to hear all that her wife was telling her right now, definitely looking surprised and unsure of how to react in response, however Matsuri just continuing on before giving the brunette much of a chance to say anything at all.

"I knew that I shouldn't have let Misa-chan go to the store all by herself, it was her first time going there without us so I should have thought more about the decision, and maybe should have listened to you a bit more. It's just that...I want to raise Misa-chan right and give her all the best options in her life, but I hardly ever know whether we're teaching her the 'right way' or not, and I'm almost always questioning myself on whether these things will be important to her in the future. You see Harumi...I love you so much, I've loved you for probably much longer than you've ever known, because just like you'd expect I didn't want to admit that I was in love with you, when really I should've just swallowed my damn pride and told you in the first place. And in the same way I should have said I was sorry long before all this happened...I'm just so scared and confused if we really are doing the right things by our daughter, so much so that I keep second guessing myself...and before I know it I...I...I've gotten carried away again and again..." trailing off slightly as she could feel slight tears beginning to well up in her eyes, Matsuri explained everything that she had really been feeling all this time to Harumi, while causing her to now find her words and soften her expression, holding both of her hands tightly and squeezing them comfortingly.

"Hey I'm scared too you know, and to be honest I shouldn't have let that argument of ours get so out of hand, although...I never knew you felt that way all this time," the brunette smiled as she kissed Matsuri's forehead lightly, and wiped away the tears still in her eyes, while the younger girl just shrugged back to her and chuckled nervously, before she gave her wife's hands a tight squeeze back and smiled in reply.

"I'm sorry it took me this long to say it all to you,"

She spoke in a lowered voice, as Harumi just caressed her cheek softly and sighed happily, before the priest gestured to her and she began to say her vows next, while all the others watched with blissful smiles resting upon their lips as they witnessed this loving moment between the no longer feuding couple.

"Matsuri...sometimes you drive me crazy, more than anyone else I've ever known does, there are times when you annoy me and we seem to argue like there's no tomorrow, and honestly there have been times in the past where I've questioned why I've bothered to stay with for this long...but then you remind me why I still want to be with you and find that I can't ever leave you even if I wanted to. You make me remember how much I really love you, and when we're apart I can't help but wish you were still beside me. You're the only one for me Matsuri, the only one that I could never stop loving even if I tried, so no matter how many times we may fight or disagree I know we'll always work it out in the end, because you're the only one I'd want to go through it all with, and you're the only person I would ever want to spend the rest of my life with, now and forever," Harumi finished her vows as she and Matsuri smiled to each other, while the priest simply nodded to them both and soon ended the ceremony by saying,

"It gives me great pleasure to congratulate you both on your vow renewal, Harumi and Matsuri, you may now kiss your wife," before the happy couple kissed lovingly and all the others cheered excitedly, Maiya and Rinne just high fiving each other and nodded with smiles, being glad that their plan had worked so well and things had turned out the way they had for Misaka's two Mothers.

The brunette preteen just happily running over to her Mothers a moment later as she smiled to them both, while they kneeled down and kissed her cheeks, causing her to chuckle slightly before they all shared a loving embrace as their little family of three. At the same time Yuzu and Mei just smiled to each other, however the dark haired Mother having her attention caught by her younger daughter, as she heard the fair haired young girl call to her.

"Mama...have you and Mom ever got into a bad fight like Misa-chan's Moms have before?" Yui asked as she seemed to have quite the thoughtful look on her face at the moment, her out of the blue question causing Mei to widen her eyes and look taken aback, being unsure of how to answer her younger daughter, taking a minute to think to herself before she just shook her head with a small smile.

"We've had our own fair share of disagreements in the past yes, but things have never really gotten that out of hand between us because we never let it get that far, plus I think we learnt a long time ago that if we ever have an issue about anything to just talk to each other about it all, so that we can work through our troubles together as we always have done," she simply stated as she kneeled down to her younger daughter, giving her a reassuring smile while Mei guessed it wasn't really surprising that Yui had asked a question like that, after all it's easy to see why she might have a question like that on her mind with everything that had happened with her best friend's Mothers.

However her Mother's comforting words seeming to ease her concerns, causing her to just smile and nod in return, before she turned to her best friend and soon went running over to her once Misaka's two Mothers had left her to go and talk with Yuzu for a bit, while Mei just watched her younger daughter go with a slight sigh. A Soft smile still resting on her lips as she thought to herself a little more, soon being dragged away from her thoughts though as her wife called her over, Mei just walking over to Yuzu and the other couple as the two of them just happily chatted to their close friends, and congratulated both Harumi and Matsuri on the renewal of their vows.

Them all staying in the park for a little bit longer, before they soon all headed back to Yuzu and Mei's place, having a good catch up all together while the four young girls were happily already planning their next slumber party since this one had turned out so well for them all, even if this hadn't have been quite the ideal situation for them to all grow closer than they already had been before all of this had happened.

Mei glancing back to her younger daughter every so often as she thought about the question she had asked her earlier, while although she tried to just push that thought to the back of her head, it would still keep coming back around to the front of her mind time and time again, right up until Harumi, Matsuri and their young daughter had left. Rinne doing the same as it was soon late evening when the family of four had been left to eat their dinner together, the others doing the same in their own homes for the night.

...

Yuzu and Mei heading to bed not long after their two daughters had, as it was easy to see they were all quite tired after the events of today, the blonde having already settled into their double bed while she glanced over to her wife, who was just finishing getting changed into her pyjamas and seemed to be thinking to herself at the moment.

"Is something the matter Mei?" catching her wife's attention, Yuzu was able to drag Mei out of her thoughts again as she just turned to the blonde, looking a bit nervous before she quickly just shook her head and came to lay beside Yuzu in their double bed.

"Not really, I was just thinking about something Yui asked me earlier today," she stated with a simple shrug of her shoulders, causing Yuzu to seem interested as she leaned closer to Mei and waited to hear more, it being obvious that she wouldn't just let her wife brush her off, while Mei guessed she might as well tell the blonde about what their younger daughter had asked of her earlier in the day.

"Oh yeah, what did she ask you?"

"She was wondering if you and me have ever had a bad argument like Matsuri and Taniguchi-san have, and although I explained to her how we are always able to work it out together easier than Misaka's Mothers do, I guess it just made me think...do you think we could ever have a falling out like that where we had to spend a night away from each other?" looking to Yuzu with a curious expression, Mei just wondered how the blonde would answer her as her wife did seem a little taken aback by her question, but then finding that that didn't last for very long as Yuzu soon just formed her lips into a smile and rested a caring hand against Mei's cheek, caressing her skin softly.

"Well I guess it could happen one day...maybe. But whether it does or not I know we'll be able to get through it together along with our daughters and their friends, after all we now know that Rinne-san can come up with her fair share of great ideas," the blonde simply replied as she grabbed hold of Mei's hand and squeezed it tightly in her grasp, causing Mei to just chuckle back to her with a smile, nodding in return as she just rested her head against Yuzu's chest and nuzzled into her lovingly.

"Yeah, that sure was surprising, but to see what lengths she will go to just to make the people she cares about happy again, it sure was quite inspiring," agreeing with her wife Mei just thinking out loud it seemed, as Yuzu smiled and pecked Mei's forehead lightly, causing her to relax against her and soon start to drift off to sleep in the blonde's caring embrace.

"I guess both of our daughters really did find a couple of wonderful friends after all, just like we were able to," Yuzu replied as she was about to nudge Mei for a response, only to realise that her wife was now sound asleep in her arms, causing her to just smile as she pulled the covers over them both and stroked Mei's long, black hair, "Goodnight Mei, sleep tight," she whispered, giving Mei a sweet kiss goodnight, before she soon began to drift off into a restful slumber as well.

Both of the two knowing that it didn't really matter if they or their close friends ever had any further disagreements, they were certain they would all work through it together, just as long as they were all there for each other when they needed to be. Being sure that their daughters would do the same for one another and for their own friends in the future, with their Mothers and their other family members to all guide and help them along the way.

**...**

**Sorry for being a day late again, my family and I have been busy getting ready to go camping soon, so I didn't have time to finish and post this until today. :) **

**Hope you all enjoyed the eighth and last ****one-shot in this sequel series. I have really enjoyed writting this sequel series to 'Whatever The Future May Bring', I loved writting every single one-shot and hope you have all liked them as well. **

**Thank you all for reading, reviewing, favoriting and following this sequel story of mine, and I hope you will all continue to support me with my future stories as well****. I love you all! ^_^ **

**Killerchainsaw ;) **


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